The Chasers
by Heart Keeper
Summary: A filler chapter involving Earth.
1. beating the game

You know how Roxas' story happens in six days? What happens if you finish the game in six days? The answer: One crazy adventure into the world of Kingdom Hearts.

Okay peoples this is my first fic so please be nice. Also there might some spoilers if you haven't finished the game. Rated T to be safe.

Action

"Speaking"

_Thinking_

Disclaimer: The only thing of Kingdom Hearts that I own is a copy of KH I and KH II, strategy guides for each game (Sora: Cheater Me: Shut up Keyblade boy) and a PS2 to play the games on.

00

**The Chasers**

**Prologue**

"OMG!" I let got of the controller to my PS2 and allowed myself to fall backwards onto the floor. Covering my face with my hands, I said, "I can't believe I beat Xemnas." I sat up. "I can't believe I beat the game and it only took me," I counted, "six days to do it." I stood up and placed my hand against the wall for support. Adrenalin rushes are good in an intense battle but you have to watch out for the light-headedness afterwards. I made my way over to the kitchen from the living room and got myself something to eat. It was a Friday and my parents were out of town on a business trip which meant if I wanted to I could stay up late and/or throw wild parties. Fortunately for my parents, I'm not one to throw a party while they're away and I was too tired from saving the worlds from evil to stay up any later. I finished my pizza and headed to my room. On the way, I got dizzy and reached for a nearby chair. I missed and fell to the ground.

00

_"Are you sure?"_

_"We'll find out soon enough."_

_"But what if it's not her?"_

_"Well like I said, we'll find out soon enough."_

00

The dizzy spell passed and I stood up again. In my room, I got into my pajamas and got into bed. I thought I had finished a video game, but what I really did was something else.

00

Like I said this is my first fic so please be nice to me. R&R.


	2. bad day

I got my first review, woohoo!

**Mooncry**: Thanks so much for taking the time to read and review on my story hands out cookie

I know the last chapter was kinda short but it was a prologue. I'll try to make this one a little longer.

Disclaimer: Like I said before I only own copies of KH I and KH II, strategy guides for them (Sora: Che- Me: Say it again and no more pop tarts for you. Sora: O.O) and a PS2 to play the games on. I don't even the TV it's hooked up to. T.T

Okay enough rambling. On with the show!

Riku: Story.

Whatever, let's just get this thing going.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 1**

When I woke up the next day, I felt sorta weird. I mean I knew I was in my house but it felt…different somehow. Maybe it was just a left over feeling from my dream. It had been so strange. I thought about this as I ate my breakfast (Reese's Puffs, yum) and as I got dressed. I decided to wear a pair of black gym pants with two white parallel stripes running down the side of each leg, white and grey sneakers, and a grey shirt that had two parallel black stripes running across my chest with a white stripe between the two black ones. I don't know why I like this outfit, maybe because it reminded me of the Final Form but that's beside the point. After I got dressed, I headed over to the Rec Center. It's close enough to my house that I could just walk there. I wanted to tell my friends about my victory over the forces of darkness from the night before. I went inside and looked for my friends in our "Usual Spot".

"Guys, I've got something to tell you. Last night I…" But there was no one there, "Guys?" I looked around and asked a few people if they had seen them. "Excuse me," I said to Amy, one of the workers, "have you seen the rest of the 'Twilight Town Gang'?" Amy shook her head.

"Nope. Sorry." I sat down and sighed. The reason I called my friends the "Twilight Town Gang" was because they each reminded me of someone from Hayner's group in KH II. Meg was the leader and a bit of a hot-head, just like Hayner. Beth was smart but tended to get a little dramatic about something spooky, kinda like how Pence acted when describing the "Ghost Train". Lauren was sensible and often the one telling us to be careful and stuff like that and that reminded me of Olette. When I told them this, Meg put me in a friendly headlock and said.

"If that's so then you're Roxas!" That's how we got our group nickname. I looked around a few more times before checking outside. I was checking behind the Center when these white things came out of nowhere. I knew I had seen them before but I didn't know where.

"So it really is you." I spun around to face someone dressed in a black cloak. Again the outfit looked familiar but I still couldn't place where I had seen it. "We almost thought we wouldn't find you. They sure were clever to separate their power like that. It just made it that much harder to find each of you, but luckily," he lowered his hood, "it also made it that much easier to catch you." Now that I could see his face, I instantly recognized him. Then again it was hard not recognize the spiky red hair and emerald green eyes of Number VIII, the "Flurry of Dancing Flames", Axel. I started to back away, but the Dusks (now that I recognized them too) blocked my escape. "Now," Axel continued, "which will it be? Conscious or not, it doesn't really matter." I picked up a stick, no clue why I just didn't want to go without a fight, and said.

"Well then you better tell your Organization buddies to get the infirmary ready," I took Sora's fighting stance, "because I'm not going willingly." There was a flash of light and I saw the stick change into a very familiar weapon, the Kingdom Key Keyblade. As if on cue, the Dusks attacked and I fought back. At first it was easy with just Dusks but then something hit me in the back and I fell. I had to fight to keep the Dusks at bay and when I could finally stand, I saw what hit me. A Creeper Nobody in sword form. Now I had Dusks and Creepers to worry about. When I got tired of keeping one eye on the enemies on the ground and one on the sky in case any more Creepers felt like dive bombing me again, I grabbed a Creeper that had turned itself into sword. Using it as a second weapon I kept any unwanted guests from sneaking up on me. I heard Axel snap his fingers and the next thing I knew I was in the air. As I fell, I turned to face the ground and groaned when I saw what was responsible. _Oh crap. _Axel had called his personal barrage of Nobodies, the Assassins, onto the scene. Somehow righting myself in midair, I swung my Keyblade; the Creeper had gotten away, at the Assassin's arms. I knew this would knock it out of the ground. After another hour or so of fighting, I fell to my knees. I wasn't used to fighting in fact I was surprised I had even lasted as long as I had. The Nobodies backed off and Axel stepped forward. A flash of fire caught my attention and I looked up. _Oh double crap._ Axel had summoned his chakrams. I tried to stand to fight only fall backwards onto my butt. _Fine,_ I thought, _even if all I'm able to do is to defend myself, I'll do it._ I raised my Keyblade. _I'm not going without a fight. _Just then I heard the sound of Nobodies being destroyed and two boys jumped between me and Axel. One had unmistakable gravity-defying spiky brown hair, a Kingdom Key, and was dressed in all black with some navy blue, yellow, and red. The other had silvery hair that went down to the middle of his back. He was wearing a white and yellow sleeveless vest, blue pants, and white and blue shoes. His weapon looked like it had originally been a sword with a blade that looked like a dragon's wing. Though it still looked like that, there were some changes. One side of the hilt had the same dragon wing design, but the other side had an angel's wing. There was a similar wing coming out of the tip of the sword, making it a Keyblade. A Heartless crest charm dangled from the keychain. Of course I had no trouble identifying Sora and Riku.

"Sorry Axel," Sora said with his trademark smile, "she's not going with you." Riku glanced at me.

"You okay?" he asked. I nodded.

"Sorry Sora, but I've got my orders," Axel said, "find the last one, bring him or her back, and annihilate anyone who stands in your way."

"Since when did you take orders from Organization XIII?" Sora asked. "Last time we saw each other, you were against them." Axel sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry but things have changed and I need to do this."

"And we need to stop you," Riku said pointing his Road to Dawn at Axel. Said Nobody started to charge himself up for a powerful move when…

"STOPRAGA!" Everything except for Sora (who had cast the spell), Riku, and me was frozen in time. Riku grabbed me by the arm and roughly dragged me to my feet. Without letting go he started to run.

"Ow!" I yelled, "Let go I can run!" Apparently Riku didn't believe me and five seconds later I stumbled.

"Come on let's go!" Sora shouted from up ahead. Without another word, we raced into the woods behind the Rec Center and towards the biggest adventure of my life.

00

Whew done.

Sora: Wow this one is longer.

I told ya it would be.


	3. away at last

Oh come on people how hard is it to review?

Riku: Maybe they're waiting to see why Sora and I were on Earth?

Technically you're still on Earth. I ended with us running to the…Well they'll see.

Disclaimer: Does it really look like I own Kingdom Hearts?

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 2**

How long we had been running I didn't know, but if I could take a guess I'd say a long time because the sun was starting to set. Finally we came to a clearing and what I saw made my jaw drop.

"Is that?" Sora smiled.

"Yup, that's the Highwind." Riku had let go of my arm and I started to walk around the gummi ship, sliding my hand across its outer shell. When I got back to where the guys were standing we heard a crash through the trees. We faced where the noise was coming from.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know," Riku said gripping his Keyblade, "and I really don't feel like finding out. Let's go." Sora and I jogged to the ship when I tripped. Turning around I half expected to see a tree root or something. If only I was that lucky. Somehow a pair of Dusks had gotten behind me and now had their hands/arms wrapped around my ankles. I started whacking their heads with my Keyblade, hoping they'd let go. When you first see a Dusk, you probably don't realize how strong they can be. Heck, these two were doing a pretty good job trying to drag me off and I am not super light. Digging the teeth of my Keyblade into the ground, I called for help. Riku was the first to move, but that's when we saw what had been making all that noise. A pair of Berserker Nobodies appeared. Apparently they had followed us there through the woods.

"Shit," Riku dodged an attack and started looking for a way around their defenses. Sora ran to help me. Now that my eyes were getting used to the dim light, I could see the slivery shimmer of Nobodies heading toward us. As they got closer, I could see that they were mainly Dusks but I also saw Assassins, Snipers, and Dragoons. It looked like Sai'x, Xigbar, and Xaldin felt that Axel needed help. _Just what I needed, _I moaned,_ more bad luck. _Or was it? The hatch opened and three animals came out. One was a mouse with a golden Keyblade, another was a duck with a magic staff, and the third was a really tall dog with a shield. I would have to have been living under a rock not to recognize King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. Donald and Goofy held back the incoming Nobodies while the King helped Riku with the berserkers. Sora finally got the Dusks off me (he was being careful not hit me on accident) and helped me up. The first thing I really noticed was that he was a lot gentler than Riku. When the King glanced back and saw that I was okay he told us to get on the ship.

"It's time to go." Donald and Goofy got onboard first with Sora and me close behind. Donald went to the cockpit and started up the engines. Riku and the King made their Keyblades disappear and towards the ship. They managed to grab hold of the opening and with some help from Sora, Goofy and me, climbed in. "Great work everybody," the King said once we were all inside, "Goofy and I will be in the cockpit if you need us. You three can stay here for awhile."

"Good," Sora said, lying on his back on the floor, "I'm beat."

"Me too," Riku answered from where he was sitting against the wall.

"Me three," I was lying on the floor as well, but on my stomach. The floor felt so cold and after getting my butt handed to me all day by the Nobodies, it felt sooooo good. I decided to close my eyes. Just for awhile…

00

This most likely how long the chapters will be.

**Mooncry**: I've read one of your stories and I'm working on reading the other one. Once again thanks for the reviews.

As Mooncry was so kind to correct me, the button is lilac but I really don't care what color it is so long as people use it. Hint, hint…


	4. The letter

Okay now you're going to see why the guys were there when they were.

Disclaimer: Why do I need say this again? I think it's kinda obvious that I don't own KH except for copies of the games.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 3**

Sora's POV

I was lying on the floor of the gummi ship, just looking up at the ceiling. I looked over at where Riku was sitting with his back against the wall. His head was tilted slightly upward and his eyes were closed. He was either thinking or asleep, I couldn't really tell. I sat up and looked at the girl we had just saved. Now _she_ was defiantly asleep. Now that we weren't running for our lives, I could actually get a good look at her. She had almost unruly blonde hair that went down to her shoulders, a grey shirt, black pants, and white and grey sneakers. (AN: If you want a better description of the outfit, read the first chapter. Not the prologue people, the one after that.) I was more than a little surprised. The King said she was the same age as Riku, but she almost looked like she was fourteen at the most. She seemed to be the same height as Kairi and had a very pleasant face. She wasn't drop-dead-movie-star gorgeous but she wasn't bad looking either. I heard someone move and saw Riku going to his seat in the cockpit. I thought about what had brought us here.

_Flashback-_

(Okay this part does have slight spoilers)

_ Sora ran across the bridge to the Poupu Island. Riku was sitting the tree as though their adventures had never happened. As though they had never defeated Xehanort's Heartless and Organization XIII. Sora climbed onto the tree then jumped down on the other side and leaned against it. For awhile both boys just looked out at the ocean._

"_Nothing's changed," Riku said._

"_Nope," Sora agreed, "Nothing will." Riku smirked._

"_What a small world."_

"_But part of one that's much bigger."_

"_Yeah." They stopped talking for a few seconds then Sora asked something that he been wondering about._

"_What do you think that was?" he asked looking up at his friend, "the Door to the Light?" Riku smiled and jumped down. _

"_This." He pointed to the younger boy's heart. Sora placed his hand over his heart._

"_This?"_

"_It's always closer than you think." Sora gave his trademark grin._

_ "Sora! Riku!" Their friend Kairi ran to them. She was holding something in her hand._

_ "What is it?" Sora asked._

_ "This." She held up the object. It was a bottle and inside was a rolled up letter with a familiar crest._

_ "From the King?" Sora took the bottle, opened it, and slid the letter out. Riku and Kairi crowded around so they could read it as well. What it said was this:_

_Dear Sora, Riku, and Kairi;_

_ I know it's only been two months since you returned home but the worlds need us again. Someone has found a way to bring back eleven members of Organization XIII. One not brought back was obviously Roxas and I think I know who the second is. I also think I know who is bringing them back but I'm not sure. What I can tell you is that it has to do with the Chasers. I don't know that much about them but what I did find out was that they once knew how to make Keyblades and that they were the first to fight against the darkness. After that not much is known, it's like they just disappeared into thin air. It's believed they gave their powers to other people after their battle. I think one of the original Chasers was found but I'm not sure about the rest. All I know is that who ever is behind this is kidnapping people who've gained the Chasers' powers. I don't know why but it can't be good. We have to find those with the Chasers' powers that haven't been taken and protect them until they can fight. Donald, Goofy, and I will come to pick you up soon so only pack clothes and essentials._

_See you soon_

_King Mickey_

_End Flashback-_

I got up and walked into the cockpit.

"Are we there yet?"

"Sora, don't you dare start," Donald threatened.

"I don't think he needs to Donald 'cause we're here," Goofy said pointing out the front window. We were coming up on Twilight Town, Master Yen Sid's tower to be exact. After we landed Riku walked up to the girl.

"Is she still asleep?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied as he picked her up, "I feel so sorry for her." I picked her Keyblade and followed everyone out. Kairi ran out of the tower to greet us.

"I'm so glad you're back," she said hugging me. I hugged her back, a bit embarrassed, and heard Riku, Donald, and Goofy laugh and I glared at them. Kairi then turned her attention to the girl in Riku's arms. "Is that her?" Riku nodded and we all made our way inside. We walked up the stairs, turned a corner, and went down a long hallway. There were a lot of doors but they all opened up to bedrooms. Riku and I found one that we weren't using and went in. Riku laid the girl on the bed and we walked out.

"I guess she's really one of them," I said.

"Poor girl," Riku said as he closed the door.

00

Whew done. Anyways you know what the button does so use it.


	5. explantions and meet Crixen

I can't believe this! This story has 122 hits and only two people have reviewed. What am I doing wrong! I know I told you guys to be nice but sheesh if there's something you don't like or something I can improve on TELL ME! It's the only way I can get better.

Okay now that I've got that out of my system, let's continue shall we?

Disclaimer: I only own Heart since she is obviously me and Zane and Malik. I don't own Crixen, she owns herself and I'm saying this again I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 4**

Heart's POV

When I woke up, the first thing I realized was that I was not in my room. The second was that I couldn't have been dreaming because there was no way these bruises had come out of nowhere. Still sore, I slowly got off the bed and made my way to the door. When I opened it, I had come face to face with a girl about my height with straight dark red hair the almost touched her shoulders, violet-blue eyes, and she was wearing a pink and white dress. I knew it was Kairi right off the bat but I didn't say anything. Mainly because I wasn't sure how she'd react and I was a little bit shy.

"Oh sorry," she said, "I was coming to wake you up." I shook my head.

"No, its okay," I held out my hand. "I'm Heart by the way."

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Kairi." We shook hands and Kairi added. "Come on, everyone wants to meet you and we need you at the meeting." She took off down the hallway and I followed. There were definitely a lot more rooms and hallways then what the game showed. Finally we came to a familiar door and we entered Yen Sid's study.

The guys were just standing around, talking when we walked in. I stood a little bit behind Kairi. When Sora and Riku first appeared there was so much happening, I didn't have time to be shy.

"Guys," Kairi said, "this is Heart." She gave me a little nudge and I walked forward.

"I'm Sora."

"Riku."

"Mickey Mouse."

"Donald Duck."

"And I'm Goofy." I shook their hands in turn before saying how nice it was to meet them. _In person,_ I secretly added.

"Well," said the King, "now that we're all here, all we have to do is wait for…" There was a column of smoke and Master Yen Sid appeared. We all bowed and sat down, waiting for what he had to say.

"I'm sure most of you know why you're here." The most didn't include me since I had no clue what so ever why I was here. "As I'm sure Mickey has told you, someone has revived Organization XIII." _So that's what Sora meant when he was talking to Axel back on Earth. But then that means all this is taking place after Kingdom Hearts II. What the heck is going on here? _Donald must have noticed I was zoning out because he nudged my ankle with his foot. Luckily no one else noticed and I didn't miss that much. "There has also been a case of kidnapping from two worlds, Twilight Town and Radiant Garden. There was almost a third, but you boys managed to stop it before anything happened." _Wait was he talking about what happened on Earth?_

"So what does this have to do with Organization XIII?" I asked. To my right, Riku whispered something about me being worse than Sora. I made a mental note to annoy him later on.

"Actually," Yen Sid continued, "it has everything to do with the Chasers." Sora said that the King had mentioned it in a letter but hadn't gone into detail about them.

"What are they exactly?" he asked.

"There once was a time when all the worlds were connected and darkness didn't exist," Yen Sid explained. I knew that. Sora (and I for that matter) had heard Kairi's grandmother talking about it. "But the people began to fight over the light and that was how the darkness was born. The darkness destroyed the light and the world. The only light left was in the hearts of the surviving children and they were able to recreate their world, but it was separated into the worlds we know now. As the ages passed, four children with unusual awareness of the world began to realize that the darkness wouldn't stay quiet for long and they tried to think of way to keep it at bay at least. When they grew older, they found the weapons capable of sealing away the darkness and forged the Keyblades. They took the name Chasers and began their fight to keep the worlds safe. A great battle erupted between the darkness and the Chasers and their allies. When the dust settled, the Chasers found that their group was split in two. Two remained in the Light; the other two had fallen into Darkness. One of the Chasers in the Darkness regretted his decision and returned to his friends, following the path of Twilight."

"Hey that sounds like what happened to Riku," Sora said.

"Sora, don't interrupt!" Donald scolded. Yen Sid continued as though nothing had happened.

"The Chasers of Light, Dawn, and Twilight led a battle against their former ally. This is what led to the Great Keyblade War. At the end of the fighting the Chasers were unable to destroy their former friend and so sealed his memories and his darkness inside his heart and sent him to another world. With the last of their strength, the remaining Chasers each split their power in half and scattered the halves and their Keyblades to the worlds. After that nothing else is known." Sora spoke up.

"The King mentioned that one of the original Chasers was found but he didn't say who it was. Do you know?" Yen Sid nodded.

"And Riku knows who it was as well." I glanced at Riku and saw his eyes darken.

"Xehanort," he said darkly. Needless to say, we figured out that Xehanort must have been the Chaser of Darkness. Again I asked my question.

"So what _does_ this have to do with Organization XIII?" What Yen Sid's answer was surprised us.

"He's returned and it seems he's the one that brought them back."

"WHAT!" We all shouted.

"After everything we did to defeat his Heartless _and _his Nobody," Sora groaned, "he's come back!" He slumped in seat. Poor guy, this was pretty close to how he acted when he realized the "Ansem" he, Donald, and Goofy had defeated wasn't really Ansem. As Kairi patted him on the back, I asked another question.

"So what does Xehanort want with the Organization or the kids that were kidnapped?"

"I feel that he's trying to turn the new Chasers to the Darkness," Yen Sid answered, "but to do that he needs not only the new Chasers, but the ones who hold the other half of their power and their Keyblades." I asked another question and I think Donald was getting annoyed with me for doing that.

"So who were the kids taken?" Yen Sid gave us two pictures that were of two boys. One boy had dark red hair and his eyes were a mix of green, yellow, and brownish-red. He was dressed in a blue and white jersey, jeans, and black sneakers. The other had brown-black hair, grey eyes, and was wearing a white T-shirt with a black and red crown on the front, black pants with red designs on it, and white sneakers.

"Since one of them was taken from Twilight Town, I suggest asking around there first," he said and then turned to me, "Anything else, Heart?" I gave a nervous laugh,

"So who's the third Chaser?"

"You are."

00

We took the train to Central Station. Everyone was laughing or talking, everyone except me. _Why me? Why did I have to finish the game in six days? _On our way out Yen Sid had taken me aside and explained that somehow I must have found a way to open a road to Earth without knowing it. I figured that since Roxas' story had taken place in six days and that was how long it had taken me to finish, that must have been how this had happened. _What a mess. Oh great now I really sound like Roxas. _When we arrived we ran around asking people if they had seen either of the two boys. After three hours of this, we met back at the station to go to Sunset Terrace and ask there.

"Excuse me?" We turned and saw a fourteen-year-old girl running toward us. She was wearing a blue shirt and a blue pair of shorts. She had long red hair that was spiked and at first I though her eyes were a blueish green color, but when she got closer I could see they were the same mix of green, yellow, and brownish-red as one of the missing boys. "Did you say you were looking for someone?" We answered yes and I showed her the pictures. When she looked at the red haired boy's picture, she suddenly got angry. "I can't believe them! Why did they take him!"

"Take who?" I asked.

"My brother, Zane." We were all surprised, but before we could say anything, Dusks appeared. We all drew our weapons and to our surprise, when the girl drew hers it was a Keyblade! It was blue and shaped like a dragon. A charm that looked like a blue dragon breathing fire hung from the keychain.

"How did-?"

"I'll tell you later," she said and charged the Nobodies. The rest of us shrugged and attacked. This fight was a lot easier than before now that I had help and there weren't that many enemies to begin with. When we killed the last Dusk, we sat down on the ground.

"So," said Riku, "mind telling us who you and how you have a Keyblade." The girl nodded.

"My name is Crixen. I got this from my brother. Somehow he made it and another one but his was plain like yours." She pointed at Sora's and my Keyblades. "The charm was different too." For the first time I looked at the charm on the end of my keychain. I thought it was the same as Sora's but it wasn't. Instead of the King's crest, mine had a silver crown. It looked like the charm on Sora's necklace. "His was a silver star. He said mine was called Dragon's Rage, but he didn't say what his was called. All Zane said was that it wasn't finished yet."

"So what happened to him?" Kairi asked. Crixen's eyes darkened.

"Some guy came, fought him, and then took him away." She said.

"What did he look like?" the King asked.

"I don't know. He was wearing a black cloak." We all looked at each other. "What?" Crixen asked.

"We think we know where your brother is," Sora said, "but it's really dangerous and we need time to get ready. Maybe you can come with-"

"NO!" Donald shouted, "Sora how many times must I say this! We can't just take people from their worlds and bring them with us!"

"Um excuse," I said, "I think you already did that."

"No we didn't."

"Yes you did."

"Didn't."

"Did."

"Didn't!"

"Did"

"Didn't!"

"Did."  
"WE DID NOT TAKE SOMEONE FROM ANOTHER WORLD AND BRING THEM WITH US!" I was enjoying irritating Donald.

"How about this. If I can prove that you did, will you bring Crixen along?" I asked.

"Fine!" Donald said, looking pleased and probably thinking I wouldn't think of someone. I smirked. "Well what's your answer?"

"Me," I said, "you took me from Earth and brought me here with you. So there for you've already broken your own rule." Donald was dumbstruck.

"Looks like she got you, Donald," Goofy laughed.

"Looks like I'm going with you," Crixen said with a smile.

"Oh no," Donald moaned.

"Sooooo…When do we leave!" Crixen said jumping up and down. We took a step back. I don't think we intended to bring along another hyperactive person. I didn't mind, but I didn't think Donald could another one. Sora was bad enough.

"Not right now," I said, "I think we should get some stuff and I want to look around for a bit."

"Hey why don't you guys stay for the Talent Show," Crixen said, "It happens three days after school ends and I want to see it before we go." Kairi must have gotten an idea because she looked over at Crixen and said.

"How about we participate in it? It sounds like a lot of fun right guys?" I nodded.

"Hey," I said, "how about the three of us do an act. I just had a great idea." Crixen smiled.

"Then what are we waiting for? To the sign in desk!" Crixen, Kairi, and I ran off, but heard Riku say.

"I've got bad feeling about this."

00

Done! Man that was a long chapter but I promised my friend Crixen she'd be in this chapter there you go.

See the button? Know what it does? Use it!


	6. Talent Show

Sorry faithful readers about not updating yesterday.

Sora: Where were you?

My parents had a BBQ party for their business that night and I couldn't get out of going.

Sora: And you couldn't have done it during the day because…

I had been playing KH II again and was morning the loss of my favorite character.

Sora: Who was it?

Roxas, your Nobody. His last line at the end of the prologue was so sad! (runs off to a random corner and cries)

Sora: Um, I guess I better do the disclaimer; Heart Keeper does not own the song "I Wanna be Like Other Girls" or Kingdom Hearts and I have a feeling if she did, she'd change it so there was more stuff with Roxas.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 5**

Kairi, Crixen, and I were just able to sign up. It was the day before the Talent show so we had to go last. We meet up with the guys at Station Heights where they were talking with two other boys and another girl. One of the boys had messy either light brown or dark blonde hair and brown eyes. The second boy had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and the girl had brown hair and green eyes. Sora was first to see us.

"Hey Kairi you remember Hayner, Pence, and Olette, right?" Kairi gave an excited squeal and hugged the Twilight Town Gang. I was introduced since Crixen seemed to know them already.

"So you girls signed up for the talent show?" Hayner asked.

"Do you have an idea for your act?" Olette's question made us stop and think. We had put down a song and dance for the act but that was we all had really planned. After some more thinking (and me bashing my head against the wall) we finally had the song. All we needed was the dance. Crixen invited Kairi and me over to her house for the night so we could practice the act. After who knows how long, we finally had the dance down and went to bed.

00

The next day, we all headed over to the Sandlot. A stage had been built where the platform for the Struggle tournament would be. Since Kairi, Crixen, and I were last, we hung out in the audience with our friends for awhile until one of the people in charge told us to get ready. There were juggling acts, singing, magic tricks, and all sorts of other stuff. The sun had set when it was our turn, so we got the cool colored lights for our act. The lights dimmed except for the spot light which was currently on Kairi who was kneeling near the edge of the stage.

_Kairi: I wanna be like other girls,_

_I wanna see what other girls see,_

_Just to be free like other girls…_

(Crixen and I jumped out from where we were off stage)

_All: GET TO BE!_

(Kairi stood up and backed up until she was in the middle of the stage. Crixen and I did some cartwheels and then stood on either side of her.)

_Heart: To wear my old jeans_

_Crixen: To eat a whole cake_

_Kairi: Feel the sun on my feet_

_Heart: Be quiet_

_Crixen: Be crazy!_

_All: Be anything I want to be!_

_Kairi: Dance around in my underwear._

(We all laughed when we heard Sora shout "Kairi!")

_Heart: To walk be myself_

_Crixen: Do nothing all day_

_Kairi: To eat a whole cake_

_All: Be cranky _(we stood back to back with cute pouts)

_With frosting _(we faced the audience)

_No cameras_

_No pressures_

_No phonies_

_No hair gel_

_No people who think that they know me but don't_

_No platform shoes_

_I wanna be like other girls_

_I wanna see what other girls see_

_Just to be free like other girls_

_I wanna be like others girls_

_I wanna see what other girls see_

_Just to be free like other girls _

_GET TO BE!_

(This time I was in the middle)

_Crixen: To stay in one place_

_Kairi: To sleep until three_

_All: To meet a nice guy_

_Heart: Who likes me for me_

_All: No cameras_

_No pressures_

_No phonies_

_No hair gel_

_No people who think they know me but don't_

_No platform shoes_

_I wanna be like other girls_

_I wanna see what other girls see_

_Just to be free like other girls_

_I wanna be like other girls_

_I wanna see what other girls see_

_Just to be free like other girls_

(We switched so that Crixen was in the middle)

_Crixen: I wanna be like other girls (Heart and Kairi: Other girls)_

_I wanna see what other girls see_

_Just to be free like other girls (Heart and Kairi: I wanna be like, I wanna seem like other girls)_

_Just to free like other girls (Heart and Kairi: I wanna be like, I wanna seem like other girls)_

_All: GET TO BE!_

At the end of the song, we took the Gullwing poses, without the weapons of course. Kairi was Yuna, Crixen we decided should be Rikku, and I was stuck with being Paine. There was the usual cheering and applause and some of the guys in the audience whistled and gave us cat calls.

"Great going girls," the girl in charge said, "we'll take a quick break and then give out the awards." The break was just long enough for the three of us to get something to drink and for the guys and Olette to talk to us. After that we were called back on stage. From what Crixen said, this meant we had won a prize. There were only four; Honorable Mention, Third, Second, and First. As the prizes were being given out, we got nervous and when our names were called, we all screamed. We didn't get Honorable Mention. We didn't get Third and we didn't get Second. Ladies and gentlemen, we got First! The three of us did a group hug and started bouncing up and down on stage. First prize ended up being blue ribbons for each of us and a whooping 6,000 munny.

"What should we do with this?" Kairi asked.

"I've got an idea," Crixen said and grabbed the pouch from my hand. "Come on Olette, I'll need your help."

"Wait!" Riku called after them, "where do you want to meet us?" Crixen turned and shouted back.

"At the clock tower above Central Station."

00

They came back with something I had been dying to try; sea-salt ice cream. Crixen gave me the munny pouch and we all started to eat. After awhile Goofy asked.

"So what do we do now?"

"We stay for one more night," I replied, "then we use the munny we won to buy as many potions, armor, and accessories as we can. After that we have to go to Radiant Garden to find out more about that other boy that was taken."

"You're leaving already?" Pence asked, "But you just got here."

"I know," Sora sighed, "We'll come back soon."

We finished our ice cream in silence before we each went back to where we had stayed the night before.

00

Riku: Is she still crying?

Sora: (looks over at the corner) Yup.

Riku: (thinks) I've got an idea. I'll be right back. (runs off)

Sora: Okay…Anyways R&R!


	7. Matchmaking

Okay I'm putting up this chapter to make up for missing it yesterday. (gives a depressed sigh)

Riku: Oh, Heart.

What?

Riku: I've got someone to see you.

Who?

Riku: (shows who it is)

ROXAS! (glomps Roxas)

Sora: Better now?

YUP!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, Roxas would have met Sora, Donald, and Goofy and team up with them. Then Axel would have teamed up with them and with help from Riku, Kairi, and Mickey; they would have kicked Xemnas' butt. D

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 6**

The next day we went shopping for everything we needed to get ready. When we got back to the gummi ship and after saying good bye to Hayner, Pence, and Olette, we climbed in. Donald went in first, then Goofy, then the King, Kairi, and then Sora. I had gotten in after him when I heard Crixen slip on the stairs. I whirled around to grab her arm but, to my amusement I might add, somebody had beaten me to it. Riku was holding her arm and I saw the blushes starting on both their faces. Stifling my giggles, I helped Crixen onto the ship and closed the door after Riku.

00

"What's that smile?" Crixen asked once we were on our way.

"What smile?" I asked.

"The one that makes you look silly." I bit back what I was going to say to have a little fun.

"What was that blush?" I asked, my blue eyes twinkling mischievously.

"What blush?" Crixen tried to act surprised but it wasn't that good.

"The one that proves you like-no, dare I say it, _loooove _Riku?" I made sure to stretch out the word "love". Crixen started to blush again.

"No I don't."

"Oh I think you do," I put my hands behind my back and started singing. "Riku and Crixen sittin' a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes lo-"

"THAT'S IT YOU ARE SO DEAD HEART!" Crixen pulled out a lighter and ran at me. _Oh great, _I thought, _as if Axel wasn't bad enough. _I ran screaming into the cockpit with Crixen in hot (no pun intended) pursuit.

00

Riku's POV

I heard that red-head, Crixen, yelling something about killing Heart and said blonde running screaming into the cockpit with said red-head right behind her. Crixen seemed to be trying to light the other girl on fire with a lighter that none of us knew she had. After three minutes of them running around and Donald yelling at them to stop, Crixen had managed to corner Heart and was now bearing down on the girl.

"I'm sorry," Heart pleaded, "I won't say it again, just don't burn my hair." If that didn't make me sweatdrop, Crixen reply sure did.

"And just to make sure you don't," she said with a crazed smile, "THE HAIR BURNS!"

"NOOOOO!" Heart covered her face with her arms, awaiting the torture. Rolling my eyes, I got up and pulled Crixen away from the cowering girl. Because of the way she was standing, I had to grab her around the waist. She started fighting back and somehow got turned around so that our noses were almost touching. I felt the heat rising to my face and I actually couldn't help myself thinking, _Wow she's pretty._

"Riku and Crixen sittin' in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g." Crixen turned to glare at Heart, but I knew that voice. A voice that sounded an awful lot like…I turned around.

Sora was spinning in his chair singing that annoying song. Crixen's face started to turn red and I knew mine was too.

"Sora…" I said deadly calm. Sora stopped spinning and looked at us.

"Yes?" he asked as if he didn't know what I was talking about. Crixen and I summoned our Keyblades. Sora took one look at them…and ran screaming bloody murder, out into the hallway. We gave chase all around the gummi ship. After an hour or so, we came back and dragged a beaten up Sora behind us. We let go of him and went back to our seats. I couldn't help but glance over at Crixen and as it turned out she must have had the same idea because our eyes met. I could feel the blush coming back and quickly looked away. Goofy announced that we had arrived. Despite what had happened the last time Sora and I were both there, (me: oh you mean like when you almost killed your best friend _twice_? Riku: The second time was Xehanort's fault. Me: And whose fault was it that he took control of your body? Sora: Can we get on with the story!) I was really curious about how things were on Hollow Bast-no Radiant Garden. Man, it was going to take awhile to get used to the name.

00

Sora's POV

As we got off the gummi ship, I started to wonder how to get Riku and Crixen to admit they liked each other.

"Need help?" I turned around and saw Heart standing behind me.

"Help with what?"

"Your plan. You were talking out loud," she laughed. I looked around. "Don't worry. They're already at Merlin's." I gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh good," I turned and looked at her. "So how are we going to do this?"

"Let's meet up with the others and then we'll talk about this later."

The meeting hadn't been all that exciting. All we did was just introduce Heart and Crixen to the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee and ask how everything was. Heart and I snuck off to plan.

"Okay," I said, "how about if we do this?" I scribbled down some crazy idea and showed her.

"Well," she said, "it's a good idea. The only problem is how we're going to get her on of them"

"Get who on one of what?" We looked up and one of the people we were talking about was right behind us. Heart smiled and said, without skipping a beat.

"Oh Crixen, just the person we were looking for. Sora told me that Scrooge McDuck was making skateboards to sell along with the ice cream and he needs someone to help test them out. Would you be by any chance interested?" I really had to hand it to that girl. That was one of the best on the spot stories I had ever heard. Crixen agreed and the two girls walked off. Now to get Riku.

00

After waiting for a while, I heard Crixen having trouble with her skateboard. I looked and saw her on the wall by where the steps to the Bailey were. Bursting inside Merlin's house, I started gasping for breath as though I had been running.

"Ri…Riku," I gasped. He looked at me with a worried expression.

"Sora! What's wrong?" he asked.

"Cri…Crixen was try…trying out a skateboard and…I think…I think something's wrong…I think she's going to fall." I don't think I've ever seen Riku run so fast. I followed, not wanting to miss a second of this. Crixen was just about to fall off the wall when Riku grabbed her around the waist.

"Th…thanks," she said.

"No problem," he replied and they looked into each other's eyes.

"Awwww," said Yuffie, who had followed me. Riku and Crixen blushed and stopped hugging although they didn't stop holding hands.

"Don't be shy," Heart said, gently pushing Crixen in Riku's direction.

"Yeah," I said giving my best friend a nudge, "the hero always kisses the girl." I coulda sworn Riku's blush darkened. Heart, Yuffie, and I walked away to give them some "privacy". In reality, only Yuffie walked back to Merlin's house. Heart and I hid on the steps and watched as our friends had their first kiss. Grinning like maniacs, we walked back to the house and when we were sure we were far enough away, we high-fived each other.

"Score!" We walked back inside to discuss the one of the boy's disappearance.

00

I know, I know crappy ending but I wanted to get this out of the way. The next chapter will hopefully be better than this.

Anyways for my faithful reviewers when I either hit thirteen chapters or I finish this crappy story, I have a surprise for you.

USE THE BUTTON PEOPLE!


	8. Caught!

Umm…I don't really know what to say here. Guess I'll just do the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts blah blah blah. I only own Heart, Zane, and Malik. Crixen owns herself.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 7**

00

Heart's POV

We made our way over to the castle. We tried to get info from Cid's computer but all we got was the boy's name: Malik. Any other data seemed to be restricted. The only other computer that would have what we needed would be Ansem the Wise's personal computer. Once we got there, Kairi typed in the password (it was still Sora, Donald, Goofy) because no one trusted Sora with the computer. Tron was able to find what we were looking for. Malick was fifteen, same as Zane, and besides his parents, he had two older siblings; a brother and a sister. The really interesting thing was that his brother disappeared some time before Radiant Garden was destroyed by the Heartless. For some reason I was really anxious about that and the reason this information was restricted.

"Anyone feel like getting in some practice?" Riku asked. We all said yes (well except for the King, Donald, and Goofy, they were going to help Leon patrol the town) and headed outside the wall. I had had my Keyblade for only three days. Sora had his for a year, Riku and Kairi had theirs for about a couple months, Crixen had hers for three weeks, and who knew how long the King had his. In short, I was such a newbie at this and it showed.

"Grrr! Stupid Heartless," I yelled as a Soldier kept jumping just out of range of my attacks. "Hold still!"

"Allow me."

Something flew at the Heartless, destroying it. I managed to get a good look at what it was. A purple bullet crystal. My eyes widened as I remembered what that came out of.

"Hit the deck!" I screamed and everyone dropped to the ground as more shots rained down on us.

"Why does this seem so familiar?" Sora asked looking up.

"Maybe because a certain trigger happy Nobody is standing on that cliff," Riku said pointing to a cliff a little to the left of where we were. I looked up and groaned. Xigbar warped down to where we were standing.

"What's the matter?" Sora snapped. "Couldn't get your Nobody flunkies to do the job?" I didn't like the look on Xigbar's face.

"Maybe I would have, _if _I was alone." Three more people warped onto the scene. One of them was a man with piercing blue eyes and dark hair done in braids and pulled back in a ponytail. Six razor sharp lances swirled around him. The second was a girl, a little bit older than me, with light blue eyes and slicked back blonde with exception of two strands that stuck out like antennae. Kunai were placed between her fingers. The third was a certain annoying red head.

"Will you stop stalking me!" I yelled at Axel.

"Why is it that the little ones always look cutest when they're mad?" he said looking at Larxene. Okay here's some advice; Never put the words "cute" and "little" together when describing me. Not that I mind being called "cute" it's just that I hate being called "little". Those two words together make me sound like I'm five. I'm sixteen for crying out loud! _That's it, _I thought angrily, _second favorite KH character or not, he's going down! _I gave a shrill war cry that probably freaked everyone out including my intended victim. Axel just had enough time to summon his chakrams before my Keyblade slammed into him. Now the fight was on. Sora was going against Xigbar. Riku and Xaldin were going at each other so fast; it made one dizzy just watching. Kairi and Crixen decided to team up and take on Larxene. I was so into my fight that I lost track of the time, both Axel and I noticed that the other groups had stopped and I wondered how long we had been at this. This thought, however, was banished from my mind when I saw what was so interesting. Sora was apparently trying to go into a Drive form but seemed to be confused as to why nothing was happening. Riku shook his head.

"Donald and Goofy aren't here, you idiot," he said covering his eyes.

"Sora might have a heart," Axel said, "but Roxas definitely had a brain."

"Hey be nice," I said glaring at him, "Sora's a good kid." Axel shrugged.

"Yeah you're right-wait, what the heck am I saying!" (AN: Reno moment alert! XD) Axel spun around and this time, I was the one on the defensive. After seven more minutes, I fell to the ground exhausted. Everyone else had been caught.

"All right," said Xaldin, "the five of you can either come on your own or Larxene can _encourage_ you to make the smart choice." My head was racing with ideas on how we could get out of this alive and there was only one that would work.

"Fine," I said, "we give up." Sora gave me an "are-you-insane?" look but I ignored it.

"Smart girl," Xaldin said, grabbing my arm and dragging me to my feet. A dark portal opened and we were dragged, pushed, and any other way a person can be forced into it. Riku looked at me and said.

"Heart, I really hope you know what you're doing." _I_ really hoped I knew what I was doing.

00

"Never thought I'd see this place again," Kairi said. We were in the World That Never Was. The castle dungeon to be exact. We were either sitting around or pacing.

"Heart, explain to me _why _getting captured was a good thing," Crixen said.

"It got us here alive didn't it?" I asked. "Besides once we get out of here, we can look for your brother and Malik."

"You mean if we get out of here," Crixen said sitting against the bars.

"Crixen? Is that you?"

Crixen spun around.

"Zane!" We all went over to the door and looked. Sure enough, there was Crixen's brother in a cell across from us. He looked tired and maybe a bit scared but he was alive. "Zane!" Crixen's hyperness was back. "You're okay!"

"I'm glad to see you too sis, but what are you doing here? And who are they?" He pointed to the rest of us.

"Well they're my friends and we're here to rescue you!"

"How? My Keyblade doesn't work on the lock to this cell." He pointed his weapon at the lock to prove his point. Sora tested the lock on our cell as well. When nothing happened, the rest of us tried. Still nothing happened.

"Great, just great," Sora said, "now what do we do?" Kairi was the one who got us out.

"What if we aimed our Keyblades at each others' cells?" We tried that and it worked. We all climbed out and Crixen and her brother hugged.

"Well," I said, "that's one down, one to go. Let's get Malik and get out of here."

"Leaving so soon?"

Have I ever told you how much I _hate_ it when people sneak up on me? We all faced where the voice was coming from to find Sai'x standing there. We summoned our weapons when…

CRASH!

What was probably a delivery gummi ship had crashed through the wall. One of the doors opened and Donald stuck his head out.

"Get in!" He didn't need to tell us twice. The six of us climbed in, Riku slammed the door shut, and we were on our way to sweet freedom.

Well almost.

"Donald!" Sora yelled, "can you possibly drive any worse!"

"Shut up," Donald yelled back, "I'm doing the best I can." The trip back to Radiant Garden was not a smooth one, mainly because Donald was in the only seat and the rest of us were in the cargo hold right behind him. The duck had to dodge enemy fighters because of the lack of weapons and we kids had turned into human pinballs.

"Next time you rescue us," Sora shouted, "could you please use the High-" Donald made sharp turn and the rest of Sora's words were cut off as he went flying across the room.

"OW! Sora!"

"Sorry Crixen." A few more close calls and we finally landed on solid ground.

"Everyone all right?" Donald asked.

"I would be," Riku said, "if everyone got off of me!" Needless to say we were kinda dog piled on Riku.

"Sorry," I said, my voice was muffled since my face and the wall were becoming fast friends. I was lying on Riku's legs but I couldn't move since someone was my back. "If someone would get their fat butt off of _me _I'd more than happy to."

"Hey I'm not fat!" Sora yelled. Donald was laughing at our predicament.

"Alright, that's it duck boy," Crixen shouted and chased him out of the ship while the rest of us got untangled.

"I curse the person who said Donald passed Driver's Ed," Zane said.

00

I'm not sure if I should put Humor or Romance as the second genre since there's going to be lots of both. Oh well R&R!


	9. Not again

Sorry for the late update but things have been busy and I needed to sort some things out with the story.

Disclaimer: Must I really go over this again? Does it look like I own Kingdom Hearts?

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 8**

00

It had been a few days since we had gotten captured and Zane and Crixen were getting each other caught up on what had happened since they were separated. In that time I had learned a few spells from Merlin and I was getting better at fighting against Heartless. Fighting against an armed opponent was a little bit harder.

"Come on Heart," Sora teased, "I thought you said today was the day you kicked my butt." We had been sparring for two hours and I had been getting my butt handed to me since seven minutes into the fight.

"Well I thought considering how heavy you felt after Donald's horrible attempt at rescuing us that your butt was practically going to have a bull's eye painted on it," I laughed. Sora glared.

"Okay now you're just being mean." He ran at me, his Keyblade raised over his head. I put mine in front to block it. The force of the attack pushed us to the ground. "Looks like I win," Sora smirked as we fell.

"That's what you think," I said and when my back hit the ground, I planted my right foot in Sora's stomach and using the force of the fall, threw him over my head. "How was that for kicking your butt?" I said getting up.

"Not bad," he said, "but…" The next thing I knew something hard connected with the back of my foot and knocked onto my back again. I started to get up but Sora pressed the tip of his Keyblade to my throat. "Your opponent isn't the only one who has to watch your feet. Give?" I nodded and he helped me up. "Nice trick. I wasn't expecting that."

"Even the best swordsman can be defeated by a trick if he doesn't know it," I said as we walked back to Merlin's house. "So do you really think I'm getting better?"

"Yeah, I mean you still need help but you're learning fast-" Sora suddenly stopped and I looked back. He was leaning against the wall, clutching his chest like his heart was hurting him.

"Sora! What's wrong?" I tried to help him but he shook his head.

"I'm fine really," He tried to give his trademark grin, "must just be a cramp from fighting. I used to get them all the time when Riku and I were sparring back home." He seemed fine a second later and I wished I could believe him but my intuition said this was more than just a cramp.

"Gaaahh!"

I hate it when my intuition's right. We had walked a few more feet when Sora collapsed and started clutching his chest again, screaming in pain. I was scared and didn't know what to do. I wanted to run for help but I didn't want to leave Sora.

"Heart! What's wrong!"

Did I mention that I had met the Pixie Gullwings? I spun around and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank god it's you, I need you to get Leon," I told them, "Tell him something's wrong with Sora, he's in pain." They teleported to where ever Leon was and I knelt down and hugged Sora, trying to comfort him. I can't tell you how long I waited or how relieved I was when Leon showed up and took Sora to the Borough. I followed and after that everything went fuzzy.

00

The next clear memory that I had was being in a house. From the look of it, the way there were fresh flowers in vases scattered around the house, I guessed it was Aerith's home. After my sight started to work again, my sense of touch returned as well. I was sitting on a couch, someone was holding my left hand in both of theirs, and there was something in my lap. I looked to my left and saw Kairi sitting there. Her eyes were red and a little bit puffy, showing that she had been crying. She was also the one holding my hand.

"You okay?" she asked when she saw that I had come out of my apparent shock. I nodded and looked to my right. Crixen must have fallen asleep and her head was in my lap. I gently laid my hand on her shoulder and looked back at Kairi.

"Where's everyone else?" I whispered.

"Probably still back at Merlin's" What happened next really caught me off guard. Kairi had hugged me and started crying into my shoulder. I placed my hand on her back.

"It's okay," I said, "Sora's going to be fine." That really sounded weak. How could I comfort my friends when I felt just as bad as them? I heard a squeak and looked up. Aerith was standing there and I couldn't read her expression. Kairi looked up too and wiped away her tears.

"Is he?" Aerith nodded giving a tired smile. Kairi gave a sigh of relief.

"He's resting now but if you want Kairi, you can stay here for the night." Kairi nodded and whispered "thank you" before going to see Sora. I gently shook Crixen until she woke up.

"Mmm…What happened?" she asked sleepily.

"Sora's okay," I said, "come one we have to tell the others."

00

When we got back to Merlin's, everyone in their own way looked worried. When we told them that Sora was going to be fine, it seemed like everyone just realized that they were holding their breath and were just now letting it out. They started talking and someone, Yuffie I think, tried to make a joke. Zane came up to us.

"Listen Heart," he said, "There was something I wanted to ask you and some of the others about. Today in Twilight Town there's going to be a skateboard competition. Crixen and I always go and we were wondering if you wanted to go too. I mean I know the whole thing that just happened but maybe this could take your mind off it." I smiled and nodded.

"Sure."

00

The competition was okay. I mean there was nothing wrong; it's just not my thing. Still it was nice that there was something normal that went on even when everything else was going crazy. Oh yeah, right about now I could go for normal…

This was something I wasn't going to get when the announcer said who was next. At first I couldn't believe it but there was no mistaking him. Blonde hair that was spiked, blue eyes, and white and black clothes.

"Heart, are you okay?" Crixen asked.

"Uh, yeah. I'm just going to some ice cream." I don't think I've ever run that fast before. When I reached the tunnels that ran under the city, I heard someone following me. Hiding around a corner, I summoned my Keyblade and waited.

00

Crixen's POV

After the next two competitors had gone, I realized Heart still hadn't come back. I looked at my brother.

"It shouldn't be taking her that long. I mean there is no way the line was ever _that _long."

"Yeah," he said looking very serious, "and if the Organization is after the Chasers then Heart could be in trouble." Zane and I took off running and eventually found ourselves in the tunnel ways. We heard the sound of metal hitting metal and followed it to the Station Plaza. Peeking outside we saw Heart fighting one of the skateboarders. What surprised us was that not only did he have one Keyblade but _two of them. _(AN: And I think you can figure out who it is.)

00

Heart's POV

Have I ever told you how unfair my life is right now? I should be able to scream my head off, run around like a complete nut job, and then die a very happy fangirl. Not going to happen. Okay I probably just lost you so let's rewind a little bit. When I was hiding back in the tunnels, I had been hoping that it was Crixen or Zane looking for me. Or at least an innocent bystander so I could tell myself it was all in my head. However it turned out my stalker was…_Roxas!_

Some how I got the feeling something, or most likely some_one_, was controlling him. We ended up fighting in the tunnels and I was surprised that no one came to investigate. The fight took us to Station Plaza. Like I said, totally unfair. The fangirl part of me was screaming her head off at the fact that I had run into my favorite Kingdom Hearts character. However it was the common sense part of me was in control. This was where everything I had learned so far was being put to use. Sparring is for fun, fighting is for your life. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Zane and Crixen hiding behind the entrance way to the tunnels. There was a slight hesitation on my part but that was all it took. Roxas got behind me and wrapped one arm around me, pinning my arms to my sides. I struggled and felt cold metal against my throat.

"You have two choices Chaser," I could hear an icy tone in his voice that hadn't been there in the game. "You can either come quietly and live or you can continue to struggle and I'll slit your throat." Yup he was defiantly being controlled. I looked back at the tunnel and saw Zane trying to keep Crixen from jumping in to help. I realized I had to get caught since it might be the only way I could get back the World That Never Was and find Malik. I mouthed the words "get help" while Roxas had his head turned. I heard the sound of a portal opening and added "now". Both of them looked unsure but took off down the tunnels anyway. I was forced into the portal and ended up in the Proof of Existance. Roxas still had a firm grip on my wrists so I couldn't get away and look. Not like I needed to since Malik came to us. "Get the others," Roxas commanded. Even though I was now in the heart of enemy territory, I felt strangely at peace.

00

Okay I realize I made Roxas sound really evil in this chapter but remember he's being controlled.

Anyways you know the drill. R&R!


	10. another explanation

I just realized that I left a few loose ends in the story so far. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those stories that you really have to pay attention to what's being said and done. Anyways this chapter's going clear some of that up.

Disclaimer: I think we know by what I own and don't own.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 9**

00

"You know you can let go of me now," I said as I tried to turn and look at Roxas. "It's not like I can run off or anything." I probably should have kept my mouth shut because he twisted my arms into a very uncomfortable position.

"Whoa Roxas you were only supposed catch her. Not torture her." I turned and looked at who had stepped in.

"Stay out of this Demyx," Roxas growled. I don't know what was going through Demyx's head and I'm still having mixed feelings about it, but from what I could see he had crossed his arms and had a smart aleck smile on his face.

"I don't seem to remember ever taking orders from you, _Number XIII_," he said. I could tell Roxas wanted nothing more than to kill him. "In fact," Demyx continued, "I don't even know why the Superior bothered with resurrecting you, traitor." Roxas let go of my left wrist and summoned Oathkeeper. (AN: Yes I have checked which Keyblade is in which hand.)

"I could say the exact same thing to you, _Number IX_," he spat, "except replacing the word 'traitor' with the word 'weakling'." I could tell this was going to get ugly really fast.

"Enough!" The three of us looked at the newcomer. I wasn't sure whether to sigh with relief that he had put a stop to the fighting and that it _wasn't _Xehanort or sigh with frustration that it was Saix. Either way I was still stuck here so it didn't really matter.

"Where's the Superior?" Roxas asked, causing his Keyblade to disappear.

"He's over seeing a few things," Saix replied, "In the meantime; we need to figure out what to do with-"

"I'll take her to a room."

Could my life get any worse? Roxas shoved me into the arms of the guy who was going to take me to the room...Which happened to be Axel. Glaring angrily, I pushed away and followed him at a distance. As we left, I heard Saix tell Roxas that they were going to "check up on Hollow Bastion."

00

The room I was in was…plain. There was a bed, a dresser, an end table, a closet, a bathroom, a normal table, a couple chairs, and a window that gave me a nice view of a certain heart shaped moon. Axel went into the bathroom and came back with washcloths that he had soaked in cold water.

"It'll stop the swelling," he said as he handed them to me.

"Thanks," I said ripping them out of his hands and wrapping them around my wrists. "Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked five seconds later.

"I guess I just want to know why someone who seemed so intent _not_ to get caught by the Organization," he answered, "suddenly lets herself get caught not once but twice and only put up a weak struggle." He looked me square in the eye. "Unless she's trying to protect her friends."

"And if I am?" I asked. There was an obvious challenge in my voice.

"Then it seems we have something in common," Axel said, a sly on his face, "Both of us are loyal to our friends to a fault."

"And that's a problem?"

"Sometimes." He sighed and faced the window. This was where I hit a snag. You see I knew that Axel and Roxas were friends but I didn't think that anyone here would react well to the fact that all their adventures were a video game. This of course meant I had to keep all my knowledge under my hat. Not that easy but I was sure I could do it. I thought about some things to ask and decided on the best one.

"Sora said you no longer worked for the Organization. What made you go back?"

"Let's just say I made a mistake," Axel said still looking out the window. "You see about two months ago, I turned against the Organization. I ended up teaming up with Sora for a short time. A _really _short time. I ended up fading soon afterwards. When I came back, Saix and some of the other members were worried I'd do it again. Xehanort and I struck a deal. He said if I helped get a Chaser, he'd find a way to separate Roxas from Sora."

"Wait but that means…" I put what I hoped was a surprised face. "Roxas is Sora's Nobody!"

"Bingo," he faced me, "that's why I said things had changed, but now…Now I wish that I hadn't made that deal. That's not the Roxas I knew. Someone's controlling him and I think know who but not how."

"Xehanort," I said, "I bet he's using the darkness to do it and I bet the same is true with Malik."

"So that means you'll help?" I bowed my head, thinking. After a few minutes I looked up.

"Okay, I'll help but if I find out you're tricking me…"

"Don't worry. Like I said, you and I are alike. We look out for and help out our friends. Got it memorized?"

00

Crixen's POV

I was outside the wall, practicing my fire spells. Zane and I had gone straight back to Radiant Garden after Heart had gotten kidnapped and told everyone what had happened. Sora, Kairi, Yuffie, Donald, Goofy, and I all wanted to go right back to the World That Never Was and get her back, but the King, Leon, Riku, and Zane said it would be too dangerous. There were really only two ways to get there: a Gummi ship or a Dark portal. Since the Organization wasn't exactly going to let us use one of their portals and after our escape, both options weren't open to us. I sat down and drew random stuff in the dirt with the tip of my Keyblade and when I got bored with that, I pulled out my lighter and started playing with it.

"Never thought I'd meet a fellow pyro."

I jumped to my feet and spun around at the same time. Behind me, leaning against the rock wall, was a man with spiky red hair, green eyes, and wearing a black cloak that meant he was in the Organization.

"Ya know," he continued as he walked towards me, "you don't strike me as a very good friend. Sitting here, playing around while your best friend is in the hands of the enemy."

"Wait a minute," I said, "you were in the group that caught us!"

"Bingo. The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"I don't carry who you are, bring Heart BACK!" I shouted, tightening my grip on my Keyblade. "Please!" Axel sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry I really am but right now Heart's safest where she is."

"LIAR!"

"No I'm telling the truth."

"And why should I believe you?" Once again Axel sighed before answering me.

"Because she's the reason I'm even talking to you. Heart wanted to make sure you and your brother got back safe-"

"I thought you made that deal so you wouldn't do this anymore."

Axel and I looked at the newcomer-or should I say newcomers. There were two; one was tall with blue hair and yellow eyes. There were two scars that formed an X on his face. I couldn't tell who the other was, he had his hood up. I did notice though that he was the same height as Sora.

"You know that the Superior can easily _break _your little agreement," the taller man said, "considering Axel, that he has nothing to lose…" Axel gave a nervous glance at the smaller figure before teleporting away. I wanted to stop him but something, fear maybe, held me back. The smaller figure turned to his companion.

"What are we going to do with him, Saix?" he asked.

"Simple," Saix replied, "we'll keep an eye on him. He'll think about his actions very carefully from now on." He opened a portal. They were about to step in when I called to them.

"Please," I said, "take me to my friend." I had a feeling that the smaller figure smirked beneath his hood.

"And which friend would that be?"

"Heart," I answered. "Please she's very important to me. She's one of the first friends I've had in a long time."

"Prove it," Saix said. As much as I didn't want to, I got down on my hands and knees.

"Please," I begged, "take me to-"

"Don't waste you breath Crixen." I turned and saw Sora and Riku behind me. "Saix tried the exact same thing with me," Sora continued. "He won't take you to Heart." The smaller figure laughed.

"I see you didn't forget that. Good it means we won't have a repeat of last time." He pushed back his hood to reveal blonde hair that was somewhat spiky and clear blue eyes, but something was…wrong, for a lack of a better word. I recognized him as the skater that had kidnapped Heart, but looking at Sora and Riku, I got the feeling they knew him…and were surprised to see him. Sora was the first break the silence.

"Roxas?" he asked uncertainly. The blonde, Roxas, smirked and both he and Saix teleported away. I looked at the guys.

"You know him?" Riku nodded.

"He's Sora's Nobody." Now I was confused. Riku had explained awhile back that a Heartless formed when someone lost their heart to darkness. A Nobody was formed when someone with a strong heart was turned into a Heartless.

"But if Roxas is Sora's Nobody," I said, "how Sora isn't a Heartless?" The guys looked at each other.

"It's a long story," Riku said.

00

Done, FINALLY! Sorry for the long update but school's just around the corner for me which means my summer vacation is almost over. T.T

Anyways if you got lost or don't understand something in this chapter, just ask in a review (I made so I can get anonymous reviews) and I'll either send a Private Message or I'll answer in the next chapter. R&R


	11. a test?

Okay this may be the last chapter for awhile considering my summer's almost over. T.T Anyways this chapter and a few others will be done mainly through Heart's POV. I may do some through Axel's.

Disclaimer: Do I have to say it again?

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 10**

00

Heart's POV

Things had gone slowly the next few days. I was barely let out of my room except to eat. I didn't think they wanted me to run off. Like Axel would let me after I said I'd help. Today was different for some reason. Axel was to take me to do some kind of test. We were almost there when he suddenly pulled me aside.

"What?" I asked.

"Listen," he said seriously. When Axel is truly serious like he was now, it usually means something bad. "These tests are to see how your powers are developing. Try to fight badly-"

"You're insane!" I yelled forcing Axel to cover my mouth. He pulled his hand away only when I agreed not to do that again. "If I fight badly, then I'll get killed," I said picking up where I left off.

"That's not exactly what I meant. I mean like don't use combos or special attacks or magic. Let yourself be overpowered."

"Why? So I can die?" Axel covered his face with his hands. Apparently I wasn't getting it.

"No," he said. "If you get overpowered while fighting it means you're not a threat. The Superior will let you live until you get too dangerous. Got it-"

"Memorized?" Axel gave me a dirty look but I saw the playful gleam in his eyes.

"Will you stop doing that?" I tapped my chin like I was thinking.

"Hmm…Nope." Laughing at the look he was giving me, I allowed Axel to steer me towards the arena. (AN: It's where the Xigbar boss fight happens.)

00

I walked into the arena and looked around. It was empty except for me. I looked up and saw Vexen, Zexion, and the one person I had hoped not to meet. Xehanort's cold amber eyes meet my frightened blue ones for just a few seconds but that was all it took. I froze like a deer in the headlights and didn't notice the Heartless that had entered the arena.

"Heart! Move!" Axel's voice snapped me back to reality just in time. I dove out of the way as the Shadow sliced at me, its claws barely grazing my arm. Another Shadow attacked me from the front and I summoned my Keyblade just in time to block it. I pushed it back and stood there, waiting, the Heartless forming a ring around me. One jumped at me and I attacked, destroying it. At that point the rest of them jumped into the fight. I was destroying them frightening ease. A quick glance at Axel showed that he was not happy with the fact that I was fighting so well. As the fight progressed, more and stronger Heartless were brought in and I fought back as well as I could. I was slowing down and taking more hits, the proof being the cuts, scrapes, and bruises which were starting to cover my body. I slipped and that was all it took for the Heartless to jump on me.

"Enough." Fire surrounded me but didn't touch me and destroyed the Heartless. Axel helped me to my feet. Xehanort was saying something to him, but I didn't really get what he was saying. All I heard was something about me going back to my room. _Yes!_ I thought happily, _nappy time_. I leaned against Axel as he led me back to my room.

00

"That was the stupidest thing you could have done."

I covered my face with my hands. Axel had been ranting almost nonstop about what I had done during the test.

"Axel, please," I begged. "I'm tired and I'm sore. I just want to go to sleep. But you have to agree," I sat up. "That was quite a show I put on out there." Axel folded his arms across his chest.

"It would have been better if you threw the fight awhile back when those Soldier Heartless showed up." He said glaring at me.

"Yeah," I scoffed, "and make look like I can't hold my own in a fight?" I lay back on the bed and folded my hands behind my head. "I don't think so, besides I think it was kinda cool that I lasted until the Trick Ghosts showed up," I added with a smile.

"Yeah, well just be careful from now on," Axel said turning to leave. "You and I are going to be training together so rest up."

"When?" I asked, looking at him.

"Tomorrow."

"TOMORROW?" I shrieked at the top of my lungs. "Are you crazy? I need at least two days to recover."

"Well then," Axel said, halfway out the door. "Time for someone to go beddy-bye," he added, a smart aleck smirk on his face.

"I'M NOT A FIVE YEAR OLD!"

"Really? 'Cause you're short enough to be one." He slammed the door as I threw my shoe at him. I got up and opened the door.

"I'M NOT SHORT!" I yelled at his retreating figure. (AN: I just realized that I sounded like Ed from FMA right there.) I slammed the door and plopped onto my bed. I fell asleep almost instantly.

00

The next day was hectic at best. After Axel practically dragged me out of bed and nearly missed getting his head taken off by my Keyblade, I somehow dragged my beaten and bruised body down to where we were going to be "training". It was basically Axel kicking my butt up and down the room.

"Break." The two of us plopped onto the ground. "Ow," I continued as I looked at a slight burn on the side of my arm. "I'm starting to wonder if you and Crixen are related."

"Who?" Axel said giving me a quizzical look.

"Crixen. Has red hair, is a pyro, and one of my friends. I asked you to check on her and her brother Zane. Remember?"

"Oh yeah." We sat in silence for an hour before we heard someone yelling.

"What the heck?" I asked as we got to our feet.

"I don't know," Axel said as we ran towards the sound. "But let's find out." We turned the corner and nearly got run over by Demyx.

"AxelI'msogladIfoundyoulistenthere'sabunchofHeartlessinthecastleandwecan'tfightthemalloffsowereallyreallyreeeaaaallllyyyyneedallthehelpwecangetsocanyouandtheChasergirlhelpusPLEASE?" How he said all that in one breath I'll never know. Not that I really understood what he was trying to say in the first place. Apparently neither did Axel.

"Breath Demyx breath," he said, "now tell us again, _slowly_." Demyx took a deep breath and said it again.

"I said, 'Axel I'm so glad I found you listen there's a bunch of Heartless in the castle and we can't fight them all off so we really really reeeaaaallllyyyy need all the help we can get so can you and the Chaser girl help us PLEASE?'" I still don't know how he said that in one breath.

"So you mean like an infestation?" I asked. Demyx shrugged.

"Yeah something like that." Axel and I looked at each other.

"Okay," Axel said, "we'll help." When we were close to where the fighting was he turned and looked at me. "Watch it's probably going to be like twenty Heartless and their already dead." We opened the door to where the fighting was and saw how many Heartless there were.

It was way more than just twenty Heartless.

00

Well that's it for now. Since today is my last day of summer vacation.

(silence)

NOOOOOOOOO!

(sob)

Riku: Say it

Never!

Sora: Come on. You know all his lines by heart…which is very scary.

I know

Both: SO SAY IT!

Fine…Looks like my summer vacation is…over.

R&R


	12. you said it was an infestation

Sorry this took so long to update. I HATE HOMEWORK! HOMEWORK MUST DIE! IT IS CUTTING INTO VALUBALE INTERNET AND WRITING AND UPDATING TIME! I HAVE HAD IT!

(pant, pant)

Sora: Done?

Yup

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 11**

00

The ground was pitch black with yellow flickering lights (AN: kinda like when you first go the Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden the first time in the second game). Heartless blanketed the floor and the air was filled with the sounds of fighting and tiny pink hearts flying off to Kingdom Hearts.

"Demyx," Axel said with obviously annoyed and dangerous voice. Demyx gulped.

"Y-yes?" he asked nervously. He started backing away from the red-head, but Axel was faster. He grabbed the younger Nobody by the front of his cloak.

"You said it was an infestation, NOT AN INVASION!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. I rolled my eyes.

"Boys, can we discuss this later?" I asked, summoning my Keyblade. Axel gave Demyx a look that clearly said "when this is over you're dead" and we raced off to fight.

00

"On your left!"

"Duck!"

"Hey watch where you're throwing those things!"

The fight had been long and hard but we managed to clear out most of the castle. We had all been split into groups of two or three. I was in the same group and Axel and Demyx; which was good for Axel, bad for Demyx, and a headache for me.

"Ow! Axel!" Demyx yelled as he got hit in the head (again) with the red head's chakrams. "I said watch where you're throwing those things."

"Sorry," Axel said sarcastically. I groaned and massaged my forehead. Apparently Axel was still annoyed with the fact that Demyx had mislabeled the "invasion" as an "infestation." I had tried to point out that Axel should have been clearer when he asked about the situation and I got yelled at to stay out of it.

"Fine," I said, "if you two want to fight it out go right ahead." I stomped off to find either a quiet place to think or a group of Heartless to kill. I ended up finding the latter. Neoshadows in the next room were swarming around a familiar blonde Nobody. "Roxas!" I yelled, cutting through the swarm.

"What are you doing here, Chaser?" he snapped as I made my way to him.

"I came to help," I said breathlessly. "Where's Mal-" Malik was leaning against the wall breathing hard. His face was pale and there was an ugly gash along his side. I rushed over to him and eased him into a sitting position on the floor. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I whipped around. A Neoshadow had jumped behind me and would have taken either my life or my heart if Roxas hadn't gotten between us and destroyed it.

"Looks I'm going to have to baby-sit you," he said.

"Only until help comes," I replied, standing up. I stood back to back with him and waited for the Heartless to make the first move.

"Try not to get killed."

"Good luck to you too," I said dryly. We fought back, trying to buy ourselves some time and breathing room. We managed to clear a good portion of the room out but it felt like every time we killed one Heartless, two more showed up. I glanced back to check on Roxas and saw a Neoshadow jump up from beneath the ground and dived straight at him. "Roxas, look out!" I pushed him out of the way, turned, and saw empty, yellow eyes coming at me.

I screamed…

00

_What happened? Where am I? Did I lose my heart? Am I…dead?_

I was laying on my back on a cold, smooth surface. My eyes were closed but I could tell there was no light. I opened my eyes and sat up slowly, my head pounding. Everything was quiet except for my heavy breathing. I stood up and looked around. I took a small step forward and the ground sudden light up and white things were flying up at me. I shielded my eyes from the things, but when I looked I saw that they were doves. The ground now looked like a circular stain glass window. The design was of three Keyblades.

"What is this place?" I wondered out loud.

"_The beginning of the end of your sleep."_

Startled, I looked around but there was no one there.

"What do you mean my 'sleep'?" I asked hesitantly.

"_You have slept in a world of illusions. Unaware of your true nature."_

"You mean that I didn't know that I was Chaser?" I waited for the voice or what ever was talking to answer me. Instead Shadows and Dusks appeared and attacked. I swung my Keyblade effortlessly. I was more than a little surprised. When had I gotten so good? And why were Heartless and Nobodies fighting side by side? Was it because they had a common enemy? Me?

_The enemy of my enemy is my friend_, I thought humorlessly. If I really was a Chaser, than I was a danger to the Dark realm. When I destroyed the last enemy, a door appeared.

"_Be careful. Beyond that door lies a world unlike any you have seen. Dangers will arise when you awaken. Don't be afraid. Trust yourself and those you hold dear and the Light will shine from within you." _

I gulped and stepped through the door.

00

On the other side was another stain glass window/floor. This time the design was of four stars. One was black, one was black with white in the center, one was golden, and one was white.

_I wonder what they mean._

While I was studying the picture, I felt the ground shudder beneath me. I turned around and saw a Darkside rise up. I backed away then turned to run. Just then a Twilight Thorn showed up right in front of me.

"Oh, hi," I said looking up at the giant Nobody. "You must be the Darkside's bigger, meaner, and heck of a lot uglier cousin, right?" There was a roar from both of them and they came at me.

_Oh yeah, sure. Go head and get them angry why don't ya. _I ran to the edge of the platform. _Hm…Maybe I will jump just to see what happens._ I looked down over the edge…And backed up. _Or on second thought I can always kick bad guy butt and get out that way. _Summoning my Keyblade, I turned and faced them.

"Okay. Which one of you wants to go first?" The answer: both. I dodged or at least tried to dodge their attacks. Luckily I remembered where their weak points were. "Aaaannnnndddddd," I said as I went in for the kill. "SEE YA!" I made one last slash at their faces and jumped to the ground. "I definitely _don't _want to be ya." However my victory was short lived because suddenly a huge shadow fell across me and I turned to see what it was. Both the Darkside and the Twilight Thorn were falling…_right on top of me!_ I ran, or at least tried to run, away from them. They disappeared and I felt myself sinking. I tried to escape but it was useless. Just as the darkness swallowed me, I heard the voice again.

"_Even in the darkness, the Light burns bright. Don't lose sight of it and nothing the Darkness commands will stand against you for you are the Chaser of Light. _

The last thing I heard was someone calling my name.

00

I know, I know. I'm being mean by putting in a cliffy when I haven't updated for awhile and probably won't update again for awhile. Oh well it gives you something to look forward to.

And you know what the button's for.


	13. Heart's awakening

I'm really, really, reeeaaaaalllllyyyyy sorry for not updating. School is a pain in the BUTT! IT MUST DIE!

(clears throat)

Anyway I'm done with my mid-terms and so now I have a three and a half day weekend ahead of me. Hopefully I'll be able to type up enough chapters to make up for missing it all these months.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts and I don't own the song in this chapter.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 12**

00

I moaned an opened my eyes. I seemed to be in some kind of hospital.

"What the heck happened?" I asked to nobody in particular.

"That's what I'd like to know." I turned my head, noticing that the lights were dimmed, (which was good because I figured bright lights would have hurt my eyes) and saw that Axel was sitting next to my bed.

"Axel," I started to sit up but felt a sharp pain in my head and quickly lay back down.

"Yeah," Axel said as I did so, "You kinda shouldn't do that for awhile. Apparently you hit you head on the floor." _So that's why my head hurt while I was in that…place, whatever it was._ I lifted my hand to my forehead and felt a bandage wrapped around it. "So what did happen?" I shook my head.

"I don't know."

_Flashback-_

"_Heart! HEART!" Axel tried to shake the girl awake. When she didn't respond he turned to Demyx, who was standing by the doorway. "Get help!" Axel said, "Tell them Roxas and the Chasers are hurt." Demyx nodded and teleported out of the room. Axel turned back to the unconscious girl in his arms when suddenly Heart's eyes snapped open. She stood up and walked over to Roxas and whispered something. Her hand started glowing white and she placed it against Roxas's forehead and healed a serious wound on his head. She went over to Malik, whispered something, and healed the gash on his side. Then Heart passed out again._

_End Flashback-_

"So…" I said, "What time is it?"

"Ten o'clock at night."

"And you found us at…"

"Ten in the morning." I sighed and nodded sleepily.

"That's good. That means I've only been asleep twelve hours." I closed my eyes. Five seconds later, they snapped open again. "I've been asleep for twelve hours! What happened to me? What did I do?"

"Like I said that's what I'd like to know." Axel said standing up. "Well I'm off to bed. Don't over sleep there Heart." I threw him a dirty look and snuggled under the covers. I was asleep in about thirty seconds.

00

I don't know what woke me up, but I knew something was wrong. I got out of my bed, slowly so I wouldn't cause another headache, and made my way over to the other two occupied beds. When I first saw Malik after I got here, his hair had been brushed back but now it was untidy in a cute sort of way and his bangs covered his left eye. For some reason he looked so familiar and it was driving me crazy that I couldn't remember why. But that wasn't the reason I woke up so I moved on to Roxas's bed. He was sweating, breathing hard, and it looked like he was having a nightmare. I sat on the chair next to his bed and tried to think of a way to comfort him without waking him up. I closed my eyes and started to sing softly.

_May it be an evening star,_

_Shines down upon you._

_May it be when darkness falls,_

_Your heart will be true._

_You walk a lonely road,_

_Oh how far you are from home._

_(Darkness has come)_

_Believe and you will find your way._

_(Darkness has passed)_

_A promise lives within you now._

_May it be the shadow's call,_

_Will fly away._

_May it be you journey on,_

_To find the day._

_When the night is overcome,_

_You may rise to find the sun._

_(Darkness has come)_

_Believe and you will find your way_

_(Darkness has passed)_

_A promise lives within you now._

_A promise lives within you…Now._

I don't know how it worked but it did. Roxas had started to relax and he looked so peaceful that I knew he was back to normal and I remembered why like him so much. His eyes opened slightly and at first I thought I had been caught, but I wasn't so lucky.

"Namine?" he asked sleepily. My breath caught in my throat and I quickly went back to my bed, no longer caring if my head hurt or not. How could I have been so stupid? Of course it'd only make sense that that's who Roxas would think was helping him. After all Roxas and Namine were the Nobodies of Sora and Kairi and if they were in love then why shouldn't their Nobodies…

_Oh don't be ridicules Heart, _I scolded myself._ Besides Nobodies don't have feelings. Even if there wasn't anything between him and Namine, what makes you think Roxas would care for you? _I just lay in my bed as still as possible and tried to go back to sleep.

00

Well that's it for this chapter also remember at the end of the next chapter I have some presents for the people who review.

R&R!


	14. Time to PARTY!

Well here it is. The thirteenth chapter and I'm not even half way done with the story yet. Anyways at the end of the chapter I have some presents for my reviewers. Also I know the last chapter seemed kinda rushed, I'm sorry but I really wanted to save the really good stuff for this and up coming chapters.

Disclaimer: Last time I checked I still didn't own Kingdom Hearts.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 13**

00

"Well, I'm glad to see you're back to normal. I was getting worried."

"Oh please. Since do _you _worry about anything Axel?"

I opened my eyes and sat up.

"What's going on?" I asked, rubbing sleep out of my eyes. The next thing I knew I was being patted on the back by the second insane pyro redhead I had met on this crazy adventure.

"As if you didn't know," Axel laughed.

"Sorry I don't," I said simply. Axel looked completely dumbstruck.

"Wait you really don't remember?" he asked.

"Remember what?" The three guys looked at me like I had grown a horn or something. "Will you three stop beating around the bush and tell me what I'm supposed to remember?"

"What do you remember from yesterday?" Malik asked. I closed my eyes, trying to conjure up images from yesterday.

"Well," I started, "I remember that Axel and I were training and then Demyx ran in saying that the castle was being attacked by an army of Heartless. The three of us joined the fighting then I ran in to you and Roxas and something weird happened while we where fighting."

"What was it?" Roxas asked. I shook my head.

"It's nothing," I said quickly.

"It might be the reason your memory's messed up," Axel countered.

"Fine," I sighed, "but like I said it's weird. I was attacked by a Heartless and ended up in this dark place on what seemed to be a stained glass window. Then I was attacked by Heartless and Nobodies." I stopped and looked at the two Nobodies. "Has that ever happened before?" Roxas shook his head.

"Well," Axel said, "Heartless just go after any thing with a heart or anyone who attacks them. Nobodies go after anything and everything if it keeps them from getting a heart. So I guess yeah they'd both go after a Key bearer-"

"Not like that!" I said impatiently. "I mean like working together to defeat a common enemy." Now Axel looked surprised.

"No nothing like that's ever happened, why?"

"Because," I continued, "that's how they were fighting. Together to kill me. I survived and this door appeared and I went through and I had to fight against a Darkside and a Twilight Thorn at the same time." I stood up and started pacing. "And the whole time there was this _voice _for a lack of a better word telling me all this things. And the end it called me the Chaser of Light!" Malik suddenly got off his bed and put his hand over my mouth.

"Shh," he said, "do you want Xehanort and the others to hear you?" I shook my head and he let go.

"After that," I said, "I don't remember anything else." Roxas picked the story.

"You were unconscious and I was trying to protect you but I got badly injured. Luckily Axel and Demyx showed up and helped us."

"You woke up kinda suddenly Heart," Axel continued, "then you went over to Roxas and said something. Your hand glowed white and you completely healed him. Then you did the exact same thing to Malik."

"Whatever that spell was, it broke Xehanort's hold on us," Malik finished. I shook my head.

"I'm really sorry guys. If I knew what that spell was I'd tell you." I said. Then I added nervously. "Nobody knows except us right?" Axel nodded.

"I'm pretty sure."

00

And so I stayed with the Organization for a month after that. Luckily it seemed that only Axel, Roxas, Malik, and I knew about what had happened that day. The four of us became friends, but…We had to be careful not to let anyone else know that Roxas and Malik weren't being controlled. We also tried to think of a way to escape without anyone knowing but there's always at least one other person besides us in the castle. Until one day.

00

Axel's POV

Roxas and I walked into the common room where Heart and Malik were watching TV. We had just come back from a meeting and there was something the Chasers would find interesting.

"Well," I said plopping into an easy chair. "I've got some good news and some bad news. Good news is everyone in the castle, except for the two of you, Roxas, and yours truly, is leaving for week long missions at the same time." Malik looked at me.

"So what's the bad news?" I smiled.

"Imagine the looks on their faces when they see what we've done to the place." The other three smiled when they realized what I was getting at.

"HOUSE PARTY!" we all shouted. I teleported to Xehanort's office and switched on the intercom.

"Attention everyone, by some strange twist of fate I'm now in charge and I order you to PARTY! But first some jobs. Roxas break out the games, Malik get the snack food, Heart see if you can get past Demyx's traps and grab his music, and I'll do the rest." I switched off the intercom and ordered pizza, charging it all on Luxord's credit card of course. This was going to be the best party ever.

00

Okay, now for the prizes.

For Crixen (if and when she ever gets back)-A Riku plushie.

For Mooncry and Flurry-You each get an Axel plushie.

And to anyone else that I forgot you get your pick of plushie and everyone gets cookies.

Also don't forget to review.


	15. Water Guns

I'm glad everyone liked the idea of Axel, Roxas, and the Chasers having a house party. It just seemed like something they'd do.

I don't own KH.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 14**

00

Roxas's POV

Malik wasn't too happy about Axel bossing us around.

"Who does he think he is?"

"Well, this is his first time being in charge," I said. "This hasn't exactly happened before." That was true. Even before I had left the Organization, no one would let me and Axel stay in the castle by ourselves for a whole week (with good reason though) and this didn't feel right to me.

"You okay?" I looked up and met Heart's eyes. I nodded and said that I was just thinking. Suddenly I got an idea to have a little fun. Whispering it to my now partners in crime, we raced off to my room and then headed towards the pool.

00

Axel's POV

When I got back to the common room, everybody was gone. _Now we can get this party underway_, I thought but after an hour I realized they weren't coming back. _What are they doing?_ I wondered and started looking around the castle

00

Roxas's POV

I peeked around the corner and noticed Axel looking in another room. I quickly ran back to the pool.

"He's coming."

00

Axel's POV

I had looked everywhere except…I shuddered. There was no way they'd… _Oh yes they would_, I thought as I ran towards the pool. I cautiously opened the door and peeked inside. No one was there, but that didn't mean anything. They could be hiding behind the door, waiting for me to come in. Smirking, I teleported inside the pool room just five feet away from the door…

And got blasted on three sides by water guns. Glaring at the three troublemakers, who by the way were laughing at me, I tried to make a fireball only to find out that I couldn't.

"Camping tip number one," Heart said between laughs. "Never allow firewood to get wet. It just makes it that much hard to light a fire."

"Prank tip number three," Roxas said trying to stifle his laughing. "Getting Axel wet is a must because it's so funny to watch him try to use his fire attacks."

"ROXAS YOU TRAITOR!" I yelled. Roxas just rolled his eyes.

"Why does everyone in the Organization call me that?" he asked sarcastically.

"Maybe because you did leave so you could meet Sora," Malik said.

"Right, which reminds me that…"

"I'm going to my room," I said and stomped off. Heart put down her water gun and took my hand.

"Oh come on Axel," she said. "We were just having some fun. We're sorry." Could her eyes get any cuter? The answer: probably.

"Alright," I sighed, "but let me change into something dry first." I teleported up to my room and changed out my uniform. A thought crossed my mind and I pulled out set of clothes I hadn't seen in years. A plain grey sweatshirt with a single red flame on the chest, a pair of somewhat baggy jeans, and grey and black sneakers; these had been the clothes I had been wearing when I became a Nobody. After a few more minutes of debating with myself, I changed into this outfit instead of my current one. Funny how much I've changed.

00

Heart's POV

"Yeah I should probably change too," Roxas said and left me and Malik alone in the pool room.

"Well that was fun," I said putting my hands behind my head in a very relaxed manner. Malik shrugged and asked what we were going to do in the meantime. "Well, I know a game we could play when they back. I guess we could just watch TV or something."

00

When the guys came back I noticed that they were wearing different outfits. Roxas was wearing the black and white outfit from Twilight Town and Axel was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans.

"Where'd you get that?" Malik asked.

"None of your business," Axel replied. I talked about the game in hopes of discouraging a fight.

"'Sardines'?" Roxas asked after I mentioned the game's name.

"Yes because it's like 'Hide and Seek' but reversed. One person hides and everyone else tries to find them. When someone finds the person, they hide with them and with a lot of people; the hiding place can get a little cramped." I explained.

"Sounds like fun," Malik said.

"I'll be it," Axel volunteered.

"Okay, the rest of us will count to fifty." With that said, the three of us closed our eyes and counted.

00

Axel's POV

I teleported into Xehanort's office.

"Oops," I said looking around, "wrong room." I was about to walk back outside when I heard footsteps. Thinking quickly, I hid inside the closet and closed the door until only it was only open a crack. _Probably Roxas_, I thought since he knew most of my hiding places. Not that the closet was one of them but we had used it before for a number of pranks. I held my breath as two people entered.

It wasn't anyone I trusted.

00

Well that's it for now. R&R.


	16. It's a trap!

Me: Yeah! Double trouble! I'm putting up two chapters this time.

Roxas: You know that the last few chapters have been really short.

Me: I know it's just that I try to build up suspense and cut the action in such a way so that it doesn't flow weird. Make sense?

Roxas: I guess…

Sora: Hey what about the rest of us? What have we been doing while you've been playing around?

Me: Nothing of that much importance. Mainly worrying about me, getting Crixen and Zane caught up on what's been happening, that sort of thing.

Sora: Humph, fine but when are you getting back to us?

Me: Either this chapter or the next…No definitely this chapter.

I don't own KH

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 15**

00

Axel's POV

Saix and Xehanort entered the room.

"Are you sure about this?" Xehanort asked.

"Without a doubt," Saix replied, "Kingdom Hearts lost a small but noticeable amount of power just after Maleficent's attack on the castle." I immediately realized what they were talking about. Somehow, what Heart had done had been found out. "Vexen has also discovered that the control you had on the Chaser boy has been broken, probably for the same reason."

"It's the girl. Being this close to Kingdom Hearts must have triggered her powers. But how? The boy that turned to the Darkness has been here longer than her and yet he hasn't shown any of the special abilities his predecessor had." Xehanort moved out of my line of sight, but I could tell he was looking out the window. Some habits never die. "Why just her?"

"Perhaps for the same reason Riku was able to wield the power of Twilight so effortlessly?" Saix asked. Oh yeah, that annoying kid. During the mission in Castle Oblivion, Marluxia got the idea in his head to control Sora and use him to take over the Organization. From what I gathered; Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion had gotten a similar idea but to use Riku to level the playing field. It seemed kind of pointless to bring that up but how had they figured a connection between Riku and Heart?

"Impossible!" Xehanort snapped and I could picture him whipping around quickly. "They never had children. It would have been too dangerous for them to have started families while I was still around and they never had a chance to do so after my 'defeat'." Who the heck were they talking about?

"Considering the worlds the girl and Riku were found on, it would be a mistake to think your former 'friends' didn't _try_ to lead normal lives. After all your brother-"

"Never bring my brother into this or any other conversation again." Xehanort's voice had taken a quiet but threatening tone that sent shivers down my spine. Even though I couldn't feel fear, there was something in his voice made me worry for Heart's life and the lives of Malik and I guess even Riku. I figured that there was something in Xehanort's past that made him hate his brother and that was fine, but what did it have to do with what was happening now?

"Forgive me," Saix said and he stepped back almost out of my line of sight. "All I was simply implying was that Destiny Islands had never been invaded by Heartless until Riku opened the door to its heart and Earth has never been invaded _ever_." That seemed to calm Xehanort down a bit.

"I'm well aware of that but still…Why? Riku was born on that world." I leaned against the back of the closet before sliding silently to the bottom. Man, this was getting annoying. How long were they going to keep talking? It turned out it was good thing I was sitting because what was said next would have made me fall.

"You're sure that there were no birth records of the girl anywhere on Earth, Saix?"

I felt like I had been thrown at a ten-ton brick wall…or that the wall was thrown at me. Take your pick. _Heart wasn't born on Earth?_ I thought, _but how?_

"I'm sure. The new female Chaser isn't from Earth. She must have been born on another world."

"I see. He was always the clever one. Instead of leaving the new Chaser on her birth world, the Chaser of Dawn sends her to _his _birth world because he knows it's safer than wherever she_ was_ born."

"Speaking of which," Saix was obviously attempting to bring the conversation back to the original topic. "What are we going to do about them?" Xehanort sighed.

"What did Vexen have to say about Roxas?"

"He hasn't had time to finish the analysis but it's safe to say that the control over him was broken as well."

"Then we get rid of them all, Axel included." With that they left.

00

How long I had been sitting there in shock, I could never tell you. All I could remember was that the others were in danger but I couldn't move.

"Come on," I hissed, "move." But my legs remained frozen. I created a small flame at the tip of my finger and pressed it against my left ankle. "Ow." It would leave a small burn scar but at least I was moving again. I stumbled out of the closet and went out into the hallway. I fell down a few times, the last time was down a flight of stairs and I skinned my palms, before I ran into Roxas.

"Umm Axel," he said jokingly, "I think you're missing the point of this game. You're supposed to hide and the rest of us look for you."

"We don't have time for that. We're in danger. This whole weekend off? It's a trick," I said grabbing him by the shoulders.

"What?"

"They know Roxas," I continued, "about what happened when Heart healed you and Malik and they know you two aren't being controlled anymore. They are going to kill us." Roxas got serious in a heartbeat, figuratively speaking of course.

"We have to find the others NOW!"

00

Heart's POV

Unknowingly, Malik and I figured out the same thing as the others but only after being ambushed by Berserkers.

"Great," I said holding my Keyblade in front of me, "now what do we do?"

"Hope for a miracle," Malik said. A huge hammer hit him in the chest and he went flying into the wall.

"Malik!" I was about to run to him when I was pushed out of the way from behind.

"You get yourself in to more trouble than you're worth, Heart, you know that?" Axel said.

"Wha…what are you two doing?" I asked as I helped Malik up.

"This whole thing was a trap," Roxas said. "They somehow figured what happened and now they're after all of us."

"Than we better get out of here right away," Malik said. Roxas nodded.

"Follow me."

00

We came to the bridge-thingy that leads to the city section of the World That Never Was when an all too familiar bullet crystal landed just in front of us.

"Looks like Xigbar is supposed to keep us from escaping this way," Roxas pointed out.

"You think?" I said in a somewhat snippy tone. I found out that when I fight or when I'm stressed, that's how I tend to get. "Well I'm not staying here any longer," I continued and ran down the bridge, half expecting to feel my body being pierced by numerous bullets. I was more than a little surprised when I made it across alive.

"Looks like Axel's got him distracted," Roxas said as he and Malik joined me. "We've got to keep moving though." We had just started when bullets began raining down on us.

00

Malik's POV

"RUN!" The three of us took off and Heart stumbled. I grabbed her arm and helped her up. We rounded a few corners before ending up at a dead end.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Hang on," Axel said after teleporting next to us. He opened another portal and we all dived in.

00

Heart's POV

I opened my eyes and looked around. The sky was pink like in the early morning and the air was cool. The cliff I was facing was made of blue rocks. _What world has a pink sky and blue cliffs?_ I thought. The answer came to me pretty quickly; we were in Radiant Garden. I had been lying on the ground and I quickly jumped to my feet.

"Guys, we made it to Radiant Garden!" I said excitedly and shook them awake before racing off to the Borough. I made my way to Merlin's house where I was sure everybody was, the guys following me. "I'm back!" I yelled "I'm alright, I'm back!" The next thing I knew, I had been bowled over by a red-headed streak.

"HEART!" Crixen yelled happily throwing her arms around my waist and hugging me. I hugged her back and stood up. Kairi came out of the house and hugged me too. Everybody else came out and soon it was like I had never left. Except for…

00

DundunDUUUNNN! Cliffy! XD

Anyways I better get working on my other stories. Also I'm considering doing a chat room fic. Tell me what you think and R&R!


	17. Safe

Sorry about the cliffy. Anyways I know what Xehanort and Saix were saying didn't make sense at that time but I will be revealing it in bits and pieces.

(dodges various sharp pointy objects being thrown at her)

I'm sorry! Think about from your stand point, would it be fun to know everything in one sitting? I didn't think so. I will give you a hint: it has to do with why Xehanort lost his memory.

(again dodges various sharp pointy objects being thrown at her)

Alright, alright, it also has to do with the previous Chasers. Also don't kill me otherwise I can't finish the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 16**

00

Heart's POV

"What is he doing here?" Riku asked pointing at Axel.

"I saved Heart's life in case you didn't know," Axel said with a smirk. _Oh great, _I thought, _not another fight._ Riku summoned his Road to Dawn.

"You have five seconds to explain _really _why you're here or I'm going to-" I started to run over to get between the two boys when I felt a sharp pain go through my left leg. I fell on one knee and looked at it. My pant leg had been ripped and there was a long cut on my ankle. Malik saw what happened and called my name.

"Are you alright?" he asked getting on his knees. I nodded. Riku came over and picked me up.

"I'll take her to Aerith's," he said and carried me there.

00

"She just needs to rest and to stay off that leg for awhile," Aerith said and walked out of the room.

"So," Crixen said looking at me. "What happened? We were all so worried about you." I took a deep breath and explained all about my mini adventure in the World That Never Was.

"Whoa," Sora said his eyes wide. "So Roxas and Malik were being controlled by Xehanort?"

"That creep," Kairi said with a huff. I nodded in agreement then yawned. Man I was tired.

"Well, I'm going to bed," I said and snuggled under the covers.

"'Night." Sora turned off the light and I went to sleep.

00

Roxas's POV

Axel and I were sitting on the wall over looking the Great Maw.

"You know," I said. "After Heart healed me, I thought I saw Namine."

"Really?" Axel asked and I shook my head.

"No, now that I think about…I don't think it _was_ her. All I saw was a really pretty girl with blonde hair and caring blue eyes. I called her Namine because I was half asleep and that was the first name that came to me. Except I don't think it was her for some reason. I don't know who else it could be." This was really annoying. I wanted to thank the girl for what she had done even though I couldn't really remember it that well.

"Was there anything else about the girl that you remember?" Axel asked in an interested voice. I thought about it for second then answered.

"She had a really beautiful voice and there was this song I never heard before. I don't know maybe I just dreamed it." I sighed. I really wanted to meet this girl. Oh well, maybe tomorrow would bring some answers.

00

I got up early and went for a walk around the town. I went to a café and sat down at one of the out door tables.

"Mind if I join you?" I looked up and saw Heart standing there.

"Uh, yeah sure," I said and she sat across from me. "Hey aren't you supposed to be in bed and staying off your leg?" Heart shook her head.

"Not since I healed myself with Cure. I'm getting better at using magic now," she explained. "So what are you doing up so early?"

"I don't know," I said with a shrug. "I guess I couldn't really sleep last night. I've got this song stuck in my head and it was bugging me all night long."

"What kind of song?" Heart asked interestedly.

"Well I don't know what it's called but this is what it sounds like." I closed my eyes and hummed the song.

00

Heart's POV

I was sure my face had turned a deep shade of red when Roxas started humming my song so I was glad his eyes were closed. I managed to get myself under control just in time when Roxas opened his eyes.

"That was beautiful," I said and quickly turned away just in case I started blushing again. "Well," I said, standing up. "I better get going." And I took off.

00

Okay I decided to add more to this chapter because I didn't like how it turned out the first time. Anyways I've already started on chapter 17 so I'll be putting it up soon.


	18. Crash!

Yea!! I'm finally over my super bad writer's block and it's SUMMER!!!!!!! This of course means that I should be able to put up more chapters for all my stories.

Disclaimer: Me no own KH. Only Heart, Zane, and Malik. Crixen owns herself.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 17**

00

Axel's POV

The next day I was in a good mood. We were going to check up on some of the worlds that Sora had been to and I had a pretty good idea who Roxas may have seen. I had offered to help him figure it out but he said no and far be it from me to butt in where I'm not wanted. Unfortunately, my good mood went down the drain when I found out what world was going to be first.

"Atlantica?!" I said when I got in the gummi ship.

"Sorry," Sora said, "but last time it hadn't been invaded and I want to make sure everybody's okay."

"Fine," I grumbled as I strapped in.

00

As we flew through space, I couldn't help but notice that Roxas and Heart weren't looking at each other. I also couldn't help but notice that it looked like something happened between them that had left them feeling uncomfortable around each other. Ah well, I'd get after them later…That is until we were hit by something and were going to crash into the water world. Did I mention that I hate water?

00

Sora's POV

Nervously I opened my eyes.

I was in the ocean but I could breath. I looked down and saw a dolphin tail where my legs should have been. Now some people would freak but I knew this was a good thing. It meant that I had returned to my mer-form and probably just in time too.

"Sora you're okay!" I turned and saw Donald and Goofy swimming towards me.

"Hey, where are the others?" I said swimming over to them.

"Gwarsh Sora," Goofy said nervously. "We haven't seen anybody else but you."

"You don't think that they…" It took me awhile before I could say "died" and even then I changed it to "drowned". Okay it wasn't really any better but still…

"I don't know," Donald said. "I mean I cast the spell to change us into sea creatures when we land in the water just before we crashed," he added quickly.

"So they're okay then right?" I asked hopefully. Donald and Goofy looked at each other nervously.

"Now Sora," Donald said. "Don't get your hopes up. They maybe okay, but remember the ocean's HUGE! They could be anywhere!"

"Just like old times," I said smiling. Well it was true, most if not all the time the three of us were on an adventure we had to find our friends. With that said and out of the way, I took off swimming towards the palace.

00

We had been swimming for a while when I heard a girl scream.

"That sounded like Crixen," Goofy said. I nodded in agreement and the three of us swam towards where we heard the scream. When we got there this what we saw…

Kairi and Crixen were swimming away from a trio of really nasty sharks. I had taken care of a shark once but it was a four on one battle with Ariel's help. I swam into the fight with Donald and Goofy in tow anyways. One of the sharks must have noticed three more fish nuggets enter the fight and swam at us. Suddenly The Road to Dawn hit the shark on the nose.

"Sora, get the girls out of here!" Riku shouted coming up next to me. I swam towards the other two sharks.

"BLIZZARA!" Donald and I shouted. The sharks writhed in pain where the ice hit them. They left the girls alone…And went straight for us. Donald swam over them while I swam beneath. Three more Keyblades came out of nowhere and each hit a shark. The three sea predators obviously felt that they weren't going to get an easy meal and swam off.

"Sora!" Kairi glomped me from behind and the force sent us into an underwater summersault. Although I think I had it better than Riku. He almost hit the rock wall when Crixen tackled him. The King, Zane, Roxas, and Malik swam up to us and now I could see what everybody looked like. Both Kairi and Crixen had the same tail that Ariel had but Kairi's was pink with white fins and Crixen's was red with orange fin. Zane and Roxas had the same tail I did but Zane's was grey and Roxas's was white. Both Malik and Riku had shark tails and the King looked like the same kind of fish as Flounder except that he was red with yellow stripes. (AN: I got the idea from the shorts he wears.) Then we all noticed that the only people not around where Axel and Heart.

"Where are they?" Malik asked. I couldn't help but look up at the surface, hoping that the answer was there.

00

Whew done.

Sora: WILL YOU STOP DISAPPEARING ALL THE TIME!?

Aaaahhhh! Sorry but-

Sora: No more "buts"

LOL! Do you have any idea how weird that sounded?

Sora: Oh forget it. Everybody just R&R.


	19. The Singer Revealed

I don't really have anything to say here.

You know what I'm not going to do the disclaimer anymore. I mean come on I've already said what I do and don't own eighteen times already. Now I'm only going to do the disclaimer if there's something extra. Like now;

Disclaimer: I don't own Jaws or this song. Note: The song showed up earlier in the story.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 18**

00

Heart's POV

Blue. That's all I could see just swirling blue water and a yellow circle above me where the sun was. I started swimming upward helped along by the human body's natural tendency to float and my experience of falling unexpectedly into the water. Of course I had only been to the ocean once and only when I was very little but the rules don't change. I gratefully took a deep gulp of much needed air as my head broke through the surface of the water and looked around. To my left I saw a certain red-headed Nobody struggling with the water and I quickly swam towards him.

"Axel, don't panic," I called as I neared him.

"Don't panic?" he asked sarcastically. "What do you mean 'don't panic'? WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN WITH NO LAND IN SIGHT IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW!"

"I'm well aware of that," I said through clenched teeth. "But if you don't stop splashing like that, you'll drown or worse."

"What in the world could be worse than drowning?"

"Do you want to be shark food?" I asked. "Keep splashing like that and they'll think you're a dying fish." Axel looked around as if expecting to see the tell-tale fins coming at him Jaws style while I grabbed his arm to help him stay above water. I looked around trying to find some clue as to which way land was, mainly the gulls.

"Look!"

I turned in the direction Axel was pointing and saw a large ship coming at us.

"Watch out!" I yelled and we tried to swim out of the way. Someone shouted and the anchor was dropped and a few sailors dived into the ocean. We were brought on board and given towels and some of the passengers gave us dry clothes. "Th-thanks," I said through chattering teeth and when everyone was sure that we were alright, they started asking questions about who we were and where we came from and what happened to us. I tried to explain everything in such a way as so not to give away the fact that Axel and I came from other worlds.

"We're from a long way away. We were traveling to see some friends. Our ship hit something and sank." Well that last part wasn't true. I didn't have a clue as to what happened to the Gummi ship but at least it sounded believable.

"We're heading towards Fyleth (AN: I just made it up)," said the captain. "Maybe we'll find your friends there."

"Maybe," I said. "Do you know where Prince Eric and Princess Ariel live?" I asked and everyone suddenly stared at us. "They were the friends we were supposed to meet," I quickly explained and the captain scratched his shin in thought.

"Well in that case I can drop the two of you off at the dock by the palace. Do you mind if we announce you?" I shook my head. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful but I kept hoping the others were alright. We hadn't seen them and I was starting to worry. We arrived at the palace dock and the captain ordered one of the sailors to send a message to the palace. A few guards and a red haired young woman who could have been Crixen's sister came to the docks. I recognized Ariel and grabbing Axel by the arm, I ran down the gang plank to meet her.

"We're friends of Sora's," I whispered to her and Ariel's eyes widened and she nodded to show she understood. We were escorted into the castle and now the two of us could finally talk to the former mermaid.

"We need some help," Axel started. "We kinda got separated from our friends."

"They might be in the ocean," I added. "Of course you know what Sora, Donald, and Goofy look like."

"Of course," said Ariel.

"Well there should be two girls, three boys and um…" I had no clue what the king would look like. "Something that might look like a mouse," I said lamely and quickly added. "Could you ask someone from the ocean to look for them?" Ariel smiled warmly.

"I know just the person, well crab actually." She laughed and said, "Sebastian's been hanging around the palace kind of as a way for me to talk to my family under the sea. I'll ask him to send a message saying who to look for. What do the other people look like?" Axel and I described our friends and when we finished I sneezed. Axel and I were shown to our rooms and I took a nice hot shower. Changing into a sky blue night gown, I snuggled under the covers and fell asleep.

00

Next Morning

I woke up late the next morning, dragged myself to the connecting bathroom, and took a shower. Getting out and looking the mirror however brought me a very big surprise.

"WHAT THE HECK?!" My exclamation brought somebody running into my room and I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself just as the door to the bathroom was starting to open.

"Heart! Are you alright?" Axel's voice called from behind the door.

"Axel if you open that door," I threatened, "I swear I'll use Strike Raid on you." (AN: For those who don't remember, that's the move where you can throw the Keyblade at somebody.) The door closed immediately.

"Why?" Axel asked.

"I just got out of the shower and I'm just wearing a towel," I said fiercely. Wrong thing to say.

"Really?" I did not like the sudden tone of interest in the red head's voice.

"GET OUT!" I shrieked and heard the satisfying sounds of Axel's footsteps running for the bedroom door and the click of said door closing.

00

What had shocked me was that when I had looked in the mirror; I had seen that my hair was no longer shoulder length like it had been when I had left Earth. Now it went all the way down to the middle of my back. I didn't realize just how long I had been gone and I began to wonder what was happening to my parents and my friends back home. I knew that they wouldn't have forgotten about me but did they think that I was dead? As I put on a soft, light green cotton dress, I began to feel sick and I wanted to throw up. I had completely forgotten about everybody on Earth and I knew I was succumbing to the worst case of guilt I've ever had. It was worse than when I had lied about and tried to cover up my failing grades. Of course it made me a better liar, not that I'm proud of it, but this guilt felt like I had the mother of all stomach-flu. I was so sick that I skipped lunch and headed straight for the beach to be alone. I knew that Axel wouldn't come within five miles of the water's edge so I felt pretty save from him. I took off my shoes, lifted my skirt up enough that it wouldn't get wet, and waded to a light beige colored rock a little ways away from the shore. I put my shoes on the rock and climbed up, looking out to sea. Absentmindedly, I started singing:

_May it be an evening star,_

_Shines down upon you._

_May it be when darkness falls,_

_Your heart will be true._

_You walk a lonely road,_

_Oh how far you are from home._

_(Darkness has come)_

_Believe and you will find your way._

_(Darkness has passed)_

_A promise lives within you now._

_May it be the shadow's call,_

_Will fly away._

_May it be you journey on,_

_To find the day._

_When the night is overcome,_

_You may rise to find the sun._

_(Darkness has come)_

_Believe and you will find your way_

_(Darkness has passed)_

_A promise lives within you now._

_A promise lives within you…Now._

"Wait that was you?" Taken by surprise, I slipped off the rock and landed in the ocean. Coming up for air, I brushed my wet hair out of my eye and stared at the person who had interrupted my song.

"Roxas?"

00

Well that's it for now. I finally got around to this.

R&R please!


	20. Unofficial Date

Okay sorry about the last couple of chapters and the fact that I haven't been putting up new chapters all summer like I thought I would be. Apparently my muses (glares at muses) went on vacation in the Caribbean and were partying the WHOLE TIME! The reason why I was even able to type the last chapter was because most BUT NOT ALL of them finally came back. Anyways my muse of flashbacks gave me an idea that I want to use later in the story because everyone is going to Port Royal to get a special and very important piece of equipment and they need to keep Beckette from getting his hands on it. There is going to be a chase scene and I will be going back in time to tell the same chase from a different group's POV. So I'm going to test drive that idea in this chapter.

**CaptainSoraSparrow**: I don't mind a little constructive criticism about my story. That's how I know what to improve on and that people care that I will give them the best story I can. I'm glad that despite these little mess ups you're still enjoying the story and I know you requested that the group goes to Port Royal, well they will. When? Not sure but soon (hopefully).

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 19**

00

One Day Ago

Roxas's POV

Sora led us to the underwater city of Atlantica to check if Axel and Heart had beaten us there. As it had turned out nobody had seen them anywhere and I started to feel sick. Axel was my best friend, almost like an older brother, and as for Heart, well… I really didn't know what to think of her. I mean I liked her but it was the same way I liked Kairi, Crixen, Olette, and Namine. Heart was a friend…I think. Anyways a crab named Sebastian showed up and told us that they were on land with Ariel, the sea king's youngest daughter. We stayed the night in the palace but I couldn't sleep. I was still too worried about them.

"Hey you okay there?" I turned and saw Crixen's older brother, Zane floating behind me.

"I guess," I said and looked back out the window. Zane swam up next to me and looked out the window as well.

"It's really beautiful," he said after a few minutes. "I always wondered what the ocean looked like under the water." I wasn't paying attention.

"Huh? What?"

"Are you always like this?" he joked. I shook my head.

"No it's just…" I sighed, unable to really say what was on my mind.

"You're worried about them aren't you?"

"Well," I shrugged, "I'm not so much worried about Axel as I am about Heart. I mean Axel can take care of himself but Heart's new at this 'saving the worlds' kind of thing. I just…" I groaned as once again I couldn't put into words what I was really thinking.

"You love her don't you?" My head whipped around at Zane's words.

"Wha-what?" I asked in surprise.

"You love Heart," Zane repeated, "or at least you care about her very much." I really didn't know what to say.

"I'm a Nobody," I said finally and looked away. "I'm not supposed to feel anything."

"But you do." Zane put his hand on my shoulder. "Tomorrow, go find her and tell her how you feel." I decided not to tell him about the "mystery girl" but I figured that at least seeing that Heart was alright would reassure me.

And Axel too of course.

00

Next morning (today)

I swam in the direction of the shore until I saw a white castle with red roofs. I didn't see anyone so I hid under the water and waited. Around noon, I saw someone coming out and head for the beach. I stuck my head out of the water just enough to see who it was. My stomach did a somersault when I saw that it was Heart. I quickly went back under the water to collect my thoughts.

"Alright Roxas," I said. "You can do this. Just relax. Besides how awkward can this get?" Apparently very awkward I mean how was I supposed to know Heart was the one I heard singing that night after the Heartless attack in the World That Never Was? When she fell off the rock into the water I quickly swam over to help. I quickly saw that she didn't need it because she surfaced immediately.

"Roxas?" she asked very surprised.

"Um hey," I said with a very lame wave.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was just coming to make sure you and Axel were okay," I said.

"Didn't Sebastian tell you guys that?" she asked. I mentally did a face palm.

"Yes he did," I said a bit too quickly in my nervousness. What was happening to me? I mentally smacked myself. "I just really wanted to see you again." _Oh yeah_, I said sarcastically in my head. _Like she's going to go for that_.

"Really?" she asked and then she smiled. "Thanks."

"Uh, so where's Axel?"

"Probably still in the castle," Heart said with a shrug. "I knew he wouldn't come here and I wanted to be alone." I suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

"Well since you're both safe I guess I'll just go." I turned to swim away when Heart grabbed my hand. I looked at her and saw that she was blushing.

"Oh," she said and quickly let go. "Sorry I'm really confused right now and I wouldn't mind if you stayed but maybe I should get some dry clothes on."

"Before you do that, can I show you something first?" The words were out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying.

"Um sure," Heart said and I felt my face getting red.

"Well then," I said hesitantly and held out my hand. "Let's go."

00

Heart's POV

I blushed slightly as I took Roxas's hand.

"So where are we going?" I mentally beat my head on a wall. Where else where we going but underwater? "Never mind," I said quickly, "just forget what I just said." Silence fell between us but not the kind that felt uncomfortable. Suddenly we both burst out laughing.

"Looks like neither of us are good at talking like this, huh?" Roxas asked with that nervous but oh so cute smile that makes my face go red when I see it.

"Yeah," I said shyly.

00

Crixen's POV

"You see?" I asked triumphantly. "Roxas _does_ like Heart." I had run into Axel unexpectedly when he had been looking for Heart. I had told him what my brother suspected and of course my doppelganger didn't believe me so I decided to show him. We watched the conversation between the two blondes secretly and I was two hundred munny richer.

"Okay, okay," Axel grumbled. "But does she like him _back_?" If I could I would have smacked him upside the head.

"And why wouldn't she like Roxas," I asked motioning to said blonde. "He's cute, sensitive, funny-"

"I thought Riku was your sweetheart," Axel said with a smirk. I threw a scathing glare at him.

"He is," I hissed. "But that doesn't mean I can't complement my best friend on her choice of guys." When I turned back to the two "almost lovebirds" I saw that they were gone. "OH, COME ON!"

00

Heart's POV

"Okay just take a deep breath and relax," Roxas said as we got ready to dive underwater. "And don't worry, I won't let go." I blushed and did two of the three things. Relaxing was far from my mind considering whose hand I was holding. "On the count of three, one…two…three…"

The world under the sea was so beautiful. I've seen what it looks like on TV and in movies but to see it in real life…I almost let the air in my mouth escape that was how beautiful it was. We swam around a nearby reef and saw all the creatures that lived there. After an hour, I squeezed Roxas's hand to let him know that I needed to surface.

"Thanks," I told Roxas once we had surfaced. "That really helped."

"No problem," he said as we swam back to shore. I gave him a hug before getting ashore. I turned around and saw him swim off. Sighing happily, I wrung the water out of my dress and hair before going inside the castle.

That night I lay in bed and watched the night sky. Around one of those stars was Earth, life continued for those I might never see again. "But that doesn't mean we're not still connected," I said as I placed my hand over my heart. "I'll always be in your hearts just as you are in mine." Rolling over, I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

00

Okay so just tell me what you think of the whole "going back in time" idea.


	21. What?

Hopefully I'm not making the relationship between Heart and Roxas Mary Sue-ish. (shudders)

Note: When I started writing this not a lot of information was given about the Chasers so I kinda made up a name and back story for each of them. That's why it doesn't fit with what's been released.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 20**

00

Kairi's POV (I haven't any with her yet so here we go)

The next morning we managed to get back on the Gummi ship and were on our way to Radiant Garden after receiving a message from Leon that he had found something interesting. Some of us had also found something interesting courtesy of Crixen. Apparently Heart and Roxas were starting to have a bit of a relationship even though it seemed to be happening very slowly. Too slowly in Axel and Crixen's opinions and they wanted to do something about it.

"I don't think it's going to work," I whispered.

"Of course it will," Axel said with a smirk. I sighed and leaned back in my chair. Somehow I just knew this wasn't going to be pretty.

00

When we arrived Yuffie was there to greet us.

"While you guys were gone we did some research to see if we couldn't figure out who the other Chasers were," she said excitedly. "And guess what? We found them!" We ran all the way to the castle where Yuffie led us into the computer lab where the members of the Restoration Committee were waiting.

"Okay Cid they're here," Yuna said.

"Fire it up!" Rikku said excitedly. Paine just shook her head. Cid brought up a picture of a young woman with light skin, long blue-black hair, and light sea-green eyes wearing a midnight blue dress. A silver tiara sat on her head.

"Who is she?" Heart asked. "She's beautiful."

"Her name was Keieiomoi and she was once queen of Radiant Garden until she stepped down and gave the throne to her cousin, Ansem the Wise," Cid explained. "Before that she had disappeared when she was about your age and didn't show up again until ten years later. She ruled for five years before leaving again and this time she never came back."

"Everyone figured that she had died," Aerith added. "And they mourned her loss."

"She was that popular huh?" Sora said and Aerith nodded.

"She was said to have the power to heal the sick and injured not matter how badly," Aerith explained. "Because of that she was given the title 'Lady of Light'."

"We believe that she may have been one of the Chasers," Leon added. "Specifically the one who became known as the Chaser of Light."

"Then that makes her my predecessor." We all looked at Heart in surprise except for Axel, Roxas, and Malik. "Oh that's right I never told you," Heart said. "While I was with the Organization I had this vision and this voice told me that I was the new Chaser of Light."

"Okay," Sora said. "Now we know who the two Chasers of Light are and we know who the Chaser of Darkness is. So that means that we just have to find the Chasers of Dawn and Twilight."

"Well," Yuffie said. "We think we may have found the previous Chasers of Twilight and Dawn. You see we also found Queen Keieiomoi's journal in the library. We haven't finished going through it but it mentions two other guys. One was called Darrin and we're pretty sure he's Dawn and the Twilight Chaser was a guy called Arden."

"But that's my dad's name."

00

Sora's POV

We all stared at Riku in surprise.

"Wait a minute!" Rikku flew over and looked him right in the eye. "Are you telling me that your dad was a Chaser?" Paine rolled her eyes before grabbing Rikku by her wing-like scarf and dragging her away.

"Yuna make a note," she said in her dry monotone voice. "We are _not_ going to give her any more sugar." Yuna nodded.

"Agreed," she said.

"Aw come on," Rikku whined. Her cousin and friend however simply shook their heads and the blonde pixie sighed and slowly floated toward the floor. Heart gently caught her in her hands before Rikku landed. The pixie sat cross-legged and refused to look at the other two.

"Anyways," I said hoping to break the silence. "So Riku, your dad was a Chaser? How come you never told me or Kairi?" Riku hung his head.

"Because I didn't even know him," he explained. "He left when I was just a baby and my mom never really talked about him so I never knew. I think my mom did though. Now that I know what we've had to face these past two years I kinda understand why she never told me." Nobody spoke for a long time but Crixen walked over and wrapped her arms around Riku. For a long time nobody said anything then Heart cleared her throat.

"Um…How about we go back to Merlin's and take a look at Queen Keieiomoi's journal," she suggested nervously. Since there really wasn't anything else to do we headed back in silence.

00

When we arrived at Merlin's, we saw him talking to a young woman with long dark hair and mahogany eyes dressed in black.

"Tifa!" Yuffie shouted excitedly. Tifa turned and smiled as the younger girl ran to hug her.

"So where's-" Aerith started to say.

"He'll be here soon enough," Tifa said with a laugh. "You know how he gets." Aerith smiled.

"Just like old times," she added with a giggle. Leon was about to explain to Tifa what they had found when there was a knock on the door. Before we could stop him, Axel had summoned one of his chakrams and waited by the door. The door opened and Axel swung his weapon at the intruder who easily blocked it with a thick sword. The two of them stepped back and Axel charged at his opponent, who I recognized as Cloud, only for him to step out of the way. Axel ran outside, realized his mistake, and ran back inside. Or at least he tried to. Cloud slammed the door in his face and locked it.

00

Okay sorry I cut it off right there but I decided that the chapter was long enough as it was. I may go back and add a better ending to it but for right now it's done. Also I'm so sorry but since there was a previous Reno moment involving Axel well, I just couldn't resist putting that scene from Advent Children in here XP

Well there's nothing else to say except R&R and thank you to everyone who has stuck with me so far. Hopefully I'm about half way done with this and I will be able to work on the sequels. Correction I will be working on the sequels just so I can get them in my Word program and then be able to update much quicker.

So again thank you my wonderful readers and reviewers. You people are the unsung heroes of the site.


	22. Port Royal

So now we get into the good part, that's right we are going to Port Royal!

Sora: Don't you think this is going a bit too fast?

Oh there you are. Haven't seen you guys in a while, where've you been hiding?

Crixen: Actually we were looking at some of your other stories.

Sora: Crixen!

That's okay if you look. I don't mind.

Kairi: And we were looking back at some of the older chapters. This story is getting long, when are you planning on ending it?

Well a few things have to happen first. We have to go to Port Royal, reveal more back story for some people (my fans have threatened me with the pointy internet objects for the cliffies), reveal the significance of certain worlds, and find Kingdom Hearts. Then the story ends.

Kairi: Gotcha

Now let's begin.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 21**

00

(Still Sora's POV)

"Cloud!" Yuffie shouted as she tackled, or at least tried to tackle, Cloud. The swordsman raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yuffie, do you mind letting go?" he asked. Yuffie quickly obeyed but she still stood close by, grinning like crazy.

"It's wonderful to see you two again," Aerith said smiling gently.

"So what butt-kicking fun have we missed?" Tifa asked.

"Oh nothing much," I said. "Just that my friends and I have gotten into another crazy adventure and made some new friends. You know same old same old." Tifa looked over at the rest of the group.

"So who are your new friends?" she asked. I quickly introduced everyone to her and Cloud.

"And the red-head outside is Axel," I finished.

"Hey! Let me in!" Crixen tried hard not to laugh as Axel banged on the door.

"You said you're on a new adventure," Cloud said. "What are you looking for this time?"

"Right now anything on the Chasers," Kairi said.

"Hello! I'm still out here!"

"We were going to look at Queen Keieiomoi's journal when we ran into you," she continued.

"I see," said Cloud as he folded his arms.

"Come on this isn't funny anymore!" The door shook violently as Axel pounded on it.

"Think we should tell him he could just teleport in?" I asked Heart.

"Nah," she said shaking her head. "I want to see how long it takes for him to figure it out."

"You know you act a lot like Roxas." Heart and I spun around to Axel standing behind us.

"No I don't," Heart snapped, getting a bit red in the face.

"If she did, she would have used her Keyblade to lock you out or to lock you in somewhere," Roxas laughed.

"Don't remind me," Axel grumbled.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You don't need to know," Axel snarled. "Got it memorized?"

"Let's just say it involved him and Larxene in her room while she's PMSing," Roxas said.

"Don't sleep too soundly tonight Roxas," Axel hissed.

"Are you four done over there?" Leon asked and we nodded. "Good because according to the queen's journal so far the other three Chasers were also keeping journals."

"Maybe if we find them all," Malik said. "We can not only learn more about them but also uncover the reason as to why Xehanort and Arden turned to the Darkness and maybe even why Arden came back."

"No problem," I said. "All we have to do is look in the library and-"

"Tried that," Cid explained. "Once we read that part, we were all over the castle trying to find the other journals."

"It's possible they're hidden on other worlds," Leon finished.

"Then we'll never find them," Crixen whined.

"Actually we can." We all looked at Heart. "I know of an object that can point to whatever it is you want most."

"Wait Jack Sparrow has compass that can do that," Donald said.

"Great so all we have to is go to Port Royal and ask if we can borrow it," I said happily. "Quick to the Gummi Ship!"

00

"Um I think we have a problem," Zane said. Port Royal had changed since the last time I had been there and not for the better. There were wanted posters for different pirates; most of them were about Jack, as well as warnings that being caught helping pirates would result in execution.

"What happened here?" I asked no one in particular.

"The East India Trading Company is taking over," Heart answered. "This is a dark time for pirates. We better be careful who we talk to around here now. Anyways I have an idea on who we can see to tell us where Jack is." With that we headed back to the Highwind.

00

"Heart what is this place?" Kairi asked. We were traveling through a swamp, Axel wasn't happy, when we saw shacks scattered here and there on the banks of a wide river. The one we were heading for seemed to be built right on the water its self.

"We're here," Heart said.

"Yeah wherever here is," Axel grumbled as he tried to shake the water out of his shoes.

"This shack belongs to Tia Dalma," Heart continued. "If anyone can help us find Jack, she can." We entered the shack and were shocked by what we saw. Everything from herbs to bits of stuff I couldn't and wouldn't want to name hung from every part of the building. "Tia Dalma!" Heart called out. "We've come seeking help."

"I know." From a back room stepped a woman with dark skin, hair, and eyes. She was wearing a torn dark red dress and there seemed to be tattoos on her face. "I have foreseen it Heart Keeper, Chaser of Light. I also know why you are here but sadly Jack and his precious Pearl have been taken by the kraken to Davy Jones' Locker."

"But we need his compass," I said. "We couldn't have come all this way for nothing." Tia Dalma laughed.

"Sometimes tings come in pairs." With that she walked over to small box and pulled out a compass. It looked just like Jack's except instead of gold the inlay was silver. "Now I hope you have brought payment." We checked our pockets but came up empty. "Den I'm afraid-"

"Wait," Heart said. "How about a trade? If I can tell you something very important then will you give us the compass?"

"Perhaps," Tia Dalma said. "What information do you have that would be important enough for me to trade this compass for?"

"You will be free Calypso," Heart said and everyone in the room just gawked at her. "The nine pieces of eight will be reunited and the Brethren Court will release you." I had no clue what Heart was talking about but Tia Dalma, or was her name Calypso, seemed to. She smiled and handed over the compass to Heart. "There is one more thing," Heart added. "Your betrayer will be revealed." With that we left the shack and headed back for the Highwind.

00

Well that's it for this chapter. The part in Port Royal is supposed to take place a little before Will, Elizabeth, and everyone who survived the kraken's attack on the Black Pearl shows up at Tia Dalma's shack. Up next the gang ends up going back to the town and gets chased by the EITC soldiers.


	23. To Destiny Islands

Wait is it

**Jesus Loves Everyone**: Wait is it? (gets her KHII strategy guide and looks at Riku's stat page) Oops you're right it's "way" not "road". Hehehe whoops sorry about that. I'll fix it when I get a chance.

Riku: And you claim to everything about Kingdom Hearts.

Can it. (throws her strategy guide at Riku) Besides you're one to talk you didn't realize I messed up and it's your own Keyblade.

Riku: (glares) Roxas was right you're actually more like Sora.

Anyways time to wrap up our adventure in Port Royal. Also I'm going to cut out the part about them going back to the town. It'll just drag the story down if I do that.

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 22**

00

Heart's POV

"Um Heart? What was that whole thing back at Tia Dalma's about?" I turned and looked at Sora. "Why did you call her Calypso and what was with that other stuff you said?" I sighed and looked out over water. The Highwind for some reason was having trouble getting into space and Donald and the King were currently trying to fix it.

"It's her real name Sora," I explained. "Calypso is the goddess of the sea and she is the lover of Davy Jones. She charged him and his ship the Flying Dutchman with the task of ferrying the souls of those who died at sea to the other side. If they committed serious crimes, then they were forced to serve a hundred years on the Dutchman as atonement. After ten years of doing this he would be allowed to set foot on land and be with the one he loved. Only every time that happened Calypso wasn't there and so he told the Brethren Court, the ruling body of the pirates, how to bind her in human form. They used nine pieces of eight to do it and so the seas were tamed, for awhile. Davy Jones then cut out his heart and hid it away somewhere. After that he became cruel and corrupted his duties. He became more interested in gathering new crew men and soon his corruption spread among his crew, turning them into monsters and then he too lost his humanity." I heard Sora gasp and I turned to face him again.

"If he's so dangerous then someone has to stop him," he said. I just shook my head.

"The only way to kill him is to stab his heart but there's a catch," I continued. "The Dutchman must always have a captain and if you stab Jones's heart, yours must take its place. You would have to ferry the dead at sea and only after ten years would you be able to go ashore. Could you do that Sora?" He looked down and shook his head. "Truth be told I don't think I could do it either. To stay on this world and to be cut off from those I love." I glanced up and saw Roxas joking with Zane about something I couldn't catch. No I could never do that.

"You like him don't you?" I quickly turned and looked at Sora.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" I asked, my face turning red.

"Oh just because you're giving him the same look Riku and Crixen have been giving each other," he said slyly.

"Like the one you and Kairi give each other too?" Now Sora's face was turning red.

"Don't change the subject," he said quickly. I just shrugged and looked out the window as we took off.

00

"Alrighty then," Axel said holding up the compass. "So how does this thing work?" I grabbed it out of his hand.

"It points to the heart's desire of the one who holds it," I explained and opened the top. Instead of the normal flat surface, a clear light blue sphere with a red and white needle came out. "That's new," I said surprised. The needle spun around a few times as it "read" my heart to discover what I desired at that moment. To my horror it started to point at Roxas and to make things worse; when everyone saw that it was focusing on something they got closer. Not wanting my private feelings revealed right then and there I kept moving the compass, trying to mask its target.

"Stop moving!" Crixen snapped and grabbed my wrists. The needle stopped and was pointing right at Roxas.

"Something you want to talk about Heart?" Riku asked with a smirk.

"It's not pointing at Roxas!" I snapped angrily trying to pass off my blush for my face just getting red with frustration. "It's obviously pointing at the chair _behind_ him!" I threw the compass at Riku and stomped over to chair. As I flopped into the seat, I noticed a discreet look of embarrassment on Roxas's face as everyone else crowded around Riku to watch the compass, hopefully, point in the direction of another journal.

00

Ironically the next world we went to was Destiny Islands. Thinking back it kinda made sense since Riku's dad was a Chaser but I didn't think we expect to find one of the journals there. When we checked the compass again, Riku still had it and I didn't dare touch it after what almost happened back on the ship, I saw that the needle was flat.

"This compass probably switches forms depending on whether it's on a world or in space," Malik said and it sounded plausible. After a few turns, the trail eventually lead us to Riku's house.

"Mom, I'm home," Riku called after knocking. The door was opened by a pretty woman with long pale blond hair and bright green eyes.

"Oh my," she said after seeing all of us. "Where did all of you come from?"

"A few islands over," Kairi said quickly.

"Yeah," Sora added. "We've been staying with them."

"I see," Riku's mom said though I got the feeling she knew they were lying but she invited us inside all the same. We then proceeded to introduce ourselves.

"I'm Zane and this is my sister Crixen."

"My name's Malik."

"I'm Heart."

"I'm Mickey and these are my pals Donald and Goofy."

"Name's Axel, got-" The rest of Axel's sentence was cut off by Roxas elbowing him in the stomach.

"She doesn't need to hear the rest," he hissed in annoyance. "Sorry about that and my name's Roxas," he said in a normal tone. Riku's mom said that it was a pleasure to meet us and just as she started asking more about us, Riku dropped the big question.

"Hey Mom, did Dad leave anything before he left?" Riku's mom visibly stiffened.

"Riku I told you, there isn't anything left," she said nervously. "He took everything when he disappear-"

"Dad didn't disappear!" Riku shouted. "He died! No he was MURDERED! By someone he trusted!" His mom hung her head.

"I had hoped that you wouldn't find out," she said quietly. "But somehow I knew that one day you would have to know the truth." She looked up at her son and I saw that there were tears in her eyes. "First of all your father was not from this world." That just floored all of us. Not just that Riku's dad wasn't from Destiny Islands but that he had told his wife about it. "He had come here before as a teenager and promised to come back when he was older," Riku's mom continued. "When you were a year old he said that he was going to leave again and that there was chance he was never coming back. He made me promise not to tell you the truth. He said that he wanted you to have as normal childhood as possible." She stopped to wipe away her tears. "Whenever I heard you talking to Sora and Kairi about going to other worlds, I knew that you would go on some adventure to those other worlds." Here she gave a soft, sad smile. "There's a lot of him in you." She then turned to the rest of us and gave us a mischievous grin. "That's how I know you're from the outside worlds. Destiny Islands is small enough that everybody knows everybody else."

00

We had dinner in the backyard as it was a bit hard to fit us all in the dinning room. For the most part we explained a little more about what had happened since Sora, Riku, and Kairi had disappeared from the islands again.

"That's why we need Arden's journal," Malik explained. "If he left it here that is."

"I left it in the attic," Riku's mom explained. "I didn't want it accidentally discovered so I locked it away and then put the key in a drawer, locked that and hid _that_ key."

"Geez mom, you couldn't have been more thorough in keeping me from that journal could you?" Riku said sarcastically. Suddenly Sora's head jerked up.

"Oh what's today?" he asked.

"Wait, the beach party isn't tomorrow is it?" Kairi asked.

"Beach…party?" I asked.

"Yeah near the end of summer, we used to throw a party on the kid's island," Kairi explained.

"I remember a certain _someone_," Riku glared at Sora. "Writing 'Sora wuz here and he pwns all' down my back in permanent marker one time."

"Aaaah," Sora sighed happily, "good times, good times." Riku drummed his fingers in a silently promise of revenge.

"So," Kairi said, "how about we go to the party while Riku's mom looks for the journal tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a plan," Zane said.

"Yeah, party!" Crixen shouted happily.

"And hopefully no Nobodies bent on killing us," Axel whispered to me. I couldn't help but laugh.

00

Finally done with this chapter.


	24. Kiss the Girl

Me: Finally some down time from fighting Heartless.

Sora: Ugh tell me about it. This is my third time doing this. Someone else be the hero for a change.

Me: Well you do realize that once Zane, Malik, and I get our full powers we'll be the ones stuck with constantly fighting the darkness.

Sora: Oh yeah, forgot about that…

Riku: Well at least we get to go to the beach party.

Crixen: And Heart said I've got a singing part in this chapter.

Axel: Now it's time for operation "lovebirds".

Roxas: Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

Kairi: Because you know when Axel's up to something?

Malik: Please start the chapter before someone accidentally lets a spoiler slip.

Disclaimer: I do not own "Kiss the Girl".

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 23**

00

Heart's POV

Crixen and I had stayed at Kairi's house that night and the next morning she lent us some sundresses for the party. Crixen of course was wearing a dress in her signature blue with a red ribbon around her waist and tied in a bow in the back. My dress was a beautiful ocean green with blue trim and Kairi's was rose pink. We met up with the guys near where the boats were and began a seating arrangement.

"Okay," Riku started, "the boats can really hold only two people and still be controllable. So Kairi and Sora are in a boat, Zane and Crixen are together as are Heart and Malik, I can take the King, Donald and Goofy are in a boat which leaves Axel and Roxas."

"But I want to go with you Riku," Crixen said with a pout.

"Okay, fine. Crixen's with me and Mickey's with Zane. Let's go."

00

When we got to the island, I saw that there were picnic tables with plates, cups, silverware, and food, coolers filled with pop and juice, pitchers of lemonade, a stage, a volley ball net, and what looked like the set up of a big bonfire.

"Whoa," I said in awe as I stepped out of the boat.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Sora said coming up next to me. I just nodded.

"Oh, where do we start?" Crixen asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. I was glad to see that she was back to her hyper self.

"Wait for everyone else to show up Crix," Riku laughed, putting his arm around her waist to keep her from racing off. "It's a lot more fun that way." Soon Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus along with some other kids showed up and were introduced to the rest of us.

"Now let's get this party started!" Tidus yelled.

00

Roxas's POV

The party was great and everyone was having fun; everyone but me that is. I was still feeling so mixed up. I liked Heart, a lot but now I was wondering if maybe the relationship was going to be one sided. Don't get me wrong I knew she liked me but I couldn't but feel that I was just a friend to her. Right now I was semi hiding from everyone by the future bonfire and just watching the party from a distance.

"Hey Roxas, whatcha doing all the way over here?" Axel asked as he sat next to me.

"I'm just sitting for a minute," I lied.

"More like since Heart's been hanging out with Malik," he countered. "What's the matter? Jealous?" I just rolled my eyes.

"In order for me to be jealous I would have to be in love," I snapped. I was really not in the mood to deal with Axel right now.

"Well how do you feel?" he asked. Knowing he wasn't going to let this go I sighed in defeat and gave him my answer.

"Like I'm going to be sick but in a good way," I said, "and every time I remember this time back in Atlantica with Heart or we accidentally lock eyes I feel warm right here." I put my hand where my heart should be. "And then I get butterflies in my stomach and my brain freezes any time I try to talk to her."

"That my friend is we refer to as L.O.V.E." Axel said with a smirk and drew the outline of a heart using fire. "Got it mem-"

"I'm not in love," I hissed. I angrily swatted at the fire heart and watched as it dissipated into the air. "Well I told you how I felt now leave me alone!"

00

Axel's POV

I made my way over to the stage where Crixen was taking break from dancing.

"I think we need to start operation: lovebirds," I whispered.

"And I have just the thing," she said with a mischievous look and I started to wonder if I should tell Heart she was right about me and Crixen being related.

00

Crixen's POV

Night finally came and the bonfire was lit. I noticed that Roxas had come out of where ever he had been hiding and both he and Heart were in the general area of the "dance floor". I decided that now was the perfect time to start my performance.

_Crixen: There you see her  
__Sitting there across the way.  
__She don't got a lot to say  
__But there's something about her.  
__And you don't know why  
__But you're dying to try.  
__You wanna kiss the girl.  
__Yes you want her.  
__Look at her  
__You know you do.  
__Possible she wants you too  
__There is one way to ask her.  
__It don't take a word  
__Not a single word.  
__Go on and  
__Kiss the girl._

Unfortunately it looked like for whatever reason, Roxas was completely ignoring Heart. I gave Axel the "we need help" signal and began the next part of the song.

_Sha-la-la-la-la-la  
__My, oh, my  
__Look like the boy too shy  
__He ain't gonna kiss the girl  
__Sha-la-la-la-la-la  
__Ain't that sad?  
__Ain't it a shame?  
__Too bad he gonna miss the girl_

During the instrumental break Axel had managed to get Kairi involved and revised our plan. Axel went over to Heart while Kairi headed for Roxas. The two pairs danced a little before Axel and Kairi discretely got Heart and Roxas to end up in each other's arms. Now was my chance to get them together.

_Now's your moment  
__Floating in a blue lagoon.  
__Boy you better do it soon  
__No time will be better.  
__Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya  
__She don't say a word  
__And she won't say a word  
__Until ya kiss the girl._

_Sha-la-la-la-la-la  
__Don't be scared  
__You got the mood prepared.  
__Go on and kiss the girl.  
__Whoa, whoa!  
__Sha-la-la-la-la-la  
__Don't stop now  
__Don't try to hide it how  
__You wanna kiss the girl._

The two of them finally relaxed and were dancing with each other.

_Whoa, whoa!  
__Sha-la-la-la-la-la  
__Float along and  
listen to the song  
__Song say "kiss the girl".  
__Whoa, whoa!_

_Sha-la-la-la-la-la  
__Music play  
__Do what the music say  
__You gotta kiss the girl  
__Kiss the girl  
__Why don't you  
__Kiss the girl?  
__Go on and kiss the girl.  
__Go on and kiss the girl._

They stopped and started to lean towards each other. Closer and closer… Then somebody bumped Tidus and he bumped into Heart and Roxas, spilling his drink over Heart's dress. Roxas broke away, looking really embarrassed, and Heart was just laughing at the bad timing. She left with Kairi to get changed and I got off the stage. I looked at Axel, he looked at me, and we both hung our heads. The plan had failed.

00

Crixen: So close! We were so close to getting those two to kiss. (bangs head on wall)

Axel: Well since Crixen's…unavailable, Heart's getting changed, and everyone else is gone I guess I have to do the closing message. (clears throat) R&R, got it memorized?


	25. The Chaser and the Nobody

Crixen: (still moping about the plan failing)

Riku: Crixen it was an accident okay? Besides you can always try again.

Crixen: I don't care! That stupid random person ruined the best kiss set up ever! (flops to the ground and sobs)

Riku: (pulls her up) I know what will make you feel better.

Crixen: What?

Riku: I saw Heart grab a cd and a cd player after she changed her outfit.

Crixen: (brightens immediately) I gotta go tell Axel!

Riku: And one more thing. (gives Crixen a very passionate kiss) Feel better.

Crixen: (all gaga because of the kiss) yeah… (walks away humming "Can You Feel the Love Tonight")

Kairi: Heart Keeper doesn't own the song "Beauty and the Beast" or "Kronk's New Groove".

00

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 24**

00

Roxas's POV

I was on the main island, sitting on a bench near the beach. I had almost kissed Heart and suddenly I was wondering if maybe we just weren't meant to be.

"Roxas?" I turned my head and saw Heart coming down the path. She was wearing her t-shirt and gym pants instead of another dress. In one hand was a cd and in the other was a player for it.

"Oh hi Heart," I said as I stood up. "What's with…?" I pointed to the objects in her hands.

"Well since we kinda didn't get a chance to finish our dance," she laughed. "I thought I'd grab some music and we could finish. That is if that was okay with you." Was it okay with me? Heck yeah it meant that maybe she felt the same way I felt about her. "There's just one thing I want to ask first," she added. "Are you in love with Namine?" Talk about coming out of the left field. I did not see that coming.

"What makes you ask that?"

"Well, oh I don't know," she said nervously. "I guess I just want to know if I'm a replacement for someone you care about that isn't here anymore. That and you've been avoiding me for almost the whole party."

"I thought you wanted to be with Malik," I said.

"Only because you didn't speak to me for pretty much all the time that we've been on Destiny Islands," she countered.

"Sorry," I said hanging my head. "I just hadn't figured out my feelings…about you."

"Oh," Heart said in surprise and when I looked up I saw that she was blushing. "Because that's why I wanted to know how you really felt about me." My eyes went wide in shock at she said next. "I didn't want to fall for someone who didn't feel the same for me."

"Wow," I said still in shock. "We were so worried about what the other person thought of us…"

"That we never actually took the time to ask," Heart added then her blush darkened. "I heard in a movie that if you finish each other's sentences…"

"It must be love," I finished and smiled, "so how about that dance?" Heart put the cd into the player and pressed start. As the music began to play I nervously put my right hand on her waist as she took my left hand in her right. I just hoped that this time we would finish.

_Tale as old as time,_

_True as it can be._

_Barely even friends_

_Then somebody bends unexpectedly._

_Just a little change_

_Small to say the least._

_Both a little scared_

_Neither one prepared._

_Beauty and the beast. _

_Ever just the same_

_Ever a surprise_

_Ever as before and_

_Ever just as sure as the sun will rise._

_Ever just the same._

_Ever a surprise._

_Ever as before._

_Ever just as sure_

_As the sun will rise._

_Tale as old as time._

_Tune as old as song_

_Bittersweet and strange_

_Finding you can change_

_Learning you were wrong._

_Certain as the sun _

_Certain as the sun_

_Rising in the east_

_Tale as old as time_

_Song as old as rhyme._

_Beauty and the beast_

_Tale as old as time_

_Song as old as rhyme_

_Beauty and the beast_

_Beauty and the Beast_

As the song progressed, I couldn't help but pretend that we were in a ballroom dressed in the appropriate clothes. I didn't really put much thought into what I might have worn but Heart would be in a shimmering white ball gown, looking like a princess. I was so lost in my imagination and the music that I didn't notice until near the middle of song that we had slowly gotten closer to each other. By the time we had gotten to the end, both my arms were around Heart's waist and hers were behind my neck and then we kissed. It didn't feel weird at all, it just seemed so natural do to that right then and there. We pulled away and just stood there looking at each other as the song finished. Even after the song had ended we stood there not wanting to leave this moment.

"We'll have to go soon," Heart said as she laid her head on my chest.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I don't want Axel or Crixen to see us like this," she explained. "Not yet." I knew what she meant. This was too special to be spoiled by those two. I gently lifted her face up towards mine and placed a faint kiss on her forehead.

"Alright," I said quietly. "You win but you know we'll have to tell the others."

"I know." I grabbed the cd player and the two of us walked hand in hand back to Kairi's house.

"Good night," Heart whispered.

"Sweet dreams," I whispered back and handed her the player as we shared a third kiss. I waited until she was inside before heading for Sora's house, the last few minutes playing over and over in my head.

00

Axel's POV

"Please tell me you got something from that," I whispered to Crixen. She held up the digital camera and started going through the pictures. Because Heart and Roxas kept moving, there weren't that many good pictures of them dancing though Crixen did manage to get a few decent ones. However there was one picture that had to be in there or so help me I was going to-

"Hey I think I got it!" Crixen shouted and waved the camera in my face. I grabbed the camera and smiled. Sure enough the picture I wanted was in the camera.

"Good, good," I said, "now all we have to do is put these on a computer, print them out and I shall have my revenge!"

00

Me: Another chapter done.

Roxas: Wow you were on a roll today Heart.

Me: Well I just had the right kind of inspiration.

Axel: Does his name start with an "R"?

Me: (blush)

Roxas: (points at Axel) Dead.

Axel: (runs off)

Roxas: (chases after him)

Me: Uh anyways R&R!


	26. Dawn Revealed

So yeah sorry if I scared you off with that kiss at the end of the last chapter though you didn't seem to have a problem with the relationship between Riku and Crixen.

Usual disclaimer goes here.

*0*0*

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 25**

*0*0*

Heart's POV

I awoke the next morning feeling unusually refreshed. Well not that unusual considering whom I had been kissing last night. Grabbing my pillow, I quickly covered my face with it and squealed like an idiot into it. Hey if finally kissing your crush makes you an idiot then I'm guilty as charged. Changing back into my normal clothes, I hurried over to Sora's place without waiting for Kairi and Crixen. When I got there, I was hoping to find Roxas waiting outside but instead I met Axel.

"Oh hi Axel," I said nervously. "What are you doing here?"

"Just waiting for my best friend," he replied and suddenly his tone turned sly. "What are _you_ doing here?" He flashed me a smile that made me feel uneasy. It wasn't a creepy smile, but it was the kind that meant the red-head was planning some kind of trouble. Considering this is _Axel_ I'm talking about, I think I have every right to get as many bad feelings as I want.

"I'm…Waiting for _my_ best friend too," I answered quickly. Axel got closer to me until our faces were almost touching.

"Crixen was staying with Kairi like you were, got it memorized?"

"Zane is rooming with Sora like Roxas is," I shot back. "Got _that_ memorized?" My sapphire eyes glared into his emerald ones, neither of us wanting to back down. Next to us, someone coughed. We turned and saw a completely ready Sora standing by his front door, Zane and Roxas were there too.

"What are you two doing?" the brunette asked.

"Nothing," was the answer he got from both of us. Zane just shook his head.

"I'm going to Riku's in case anyone cares," he said and waved. Sora hurried after him leaving me and Roxas alone with Axel. Said red-head backed up and gave me my space.

"Well if you want to wait for Kairi and Crixen that's fine with me," he said and walked away. Before he was out of ear shot however he turned back and smirked. "I mean after all Heart, you have your _boyfriend_ to keep you company." Roxas and I just stood there, shocked.

*0*0*

"How did he find out?" Roxas whispered to me as we walked back to the ship.

"How should I know?" I whispered back. Ahead of us, I saw Axel and Crixen whispering to each other, looking at something in their hands, and occasionally shooting evil smiles at us. Roxas and I gulped nervously. "Two hundred munny says they're related," I whispered.

"Deal," Roxas answered. "So what are we going to do about them? No offense but I'd rather _tell_ everyone about us myself instead of getting set up." A wicked grin showed up on my face.

"Oh don't worry about them," I said evilly. "I've got the perfect plan."

*0*0*

"You two seem awfully happy today," Aerith said to Roxas and me. We, the group that is, had of course decided to return to Radiant Garden so we could show our friends Arden's journal.

"Yeah," Roxas nodded. "We had a great time on Destiny Islands. I can see why you love it there Sora."

"Are you sure that's the only reason you're happy?" Crixen asked slyly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, hopefully I sounded believably confused.

"Well if that's the only reason for your good mood," Axel answered with a grin that would have put the Cheshire Cat to shame. "Then how do you explain these?" He pulled out some pictures and placed them face up on the table we were sitting around. The photos were of me and Roxas dancing and one of them was of the kiss.

_So I was right,_ I thought. When I saw them looking at something in their hands earlier, I figured it had to be some kind of picture or anything along those lines. I started cracking up.

"Oh come on," I said. "Anyone with a Photoshop program can fake a picture."

"Are you really that mad about me locking you and Larxene together in her room?" Roxas asked, catching onto what I was doing. I had to keep from laughing at the look on Axel and Crixen's faces. They opened and closed their mouths like fish out of water.

"But, but…" Crixen whimpered.

"That's low Crix," Zane said standing up from his chair, "even for you." The rest of our friends also got up and left, leaving Roxas and me with the two trouble makers.

"We are going to prove there's something going on with you," Axel hissed.

"What's talking about Heart?" Roxas asked. I simply shrugged and left.

*0*0*

Crixen's POV

I was in a really bad mood. Heart and Roxas kissed and Axel and I got a picture of it but those two sneaky blondes managed to convince the others the pictures were faked. Well if nothing else it was proof that those two belonged together.

As I was musing on that thought, I sat next to Cid and watched him try to figure out where Darrin left his journal. He was on the computer in Merlin's house while the rest of the group was either looking at the two journals or taking notes. So far we discovered that Arden and Darrin each had a younger sibling that traveled with them and that Keieiomoi had no siblings. Finally we caught a break.

"Guys I found him," my brother shouted and then he read the passage from the queen's journal.

"_Darrin and Holly seem homesick. Actually we all are except for X---------- of course."_

"Sorry about that," Zane said sheepishly. "There're some areas that are smudged and it looks like that name got ruined."

"Whatever it is, it's my uncle's," Riku explained. "Something must have happened to him because my dad scribbled out his name except for the last letter: 'T'." Zane continued to read.

"_I feel so sorry for him and Arden. To have lost their parents like that, I can't imagine what they're going through. I hope that when this war is over we can go home. I want see my parents and Ansem again. I miss them and I know Darrin and Holly miss their parents too._

_Before I return to Radiant Garden, I want to see Darrin's home world, from what he described Earth must be a wonderful place."_

"Darrin was from Earth?" Malik asked. "Heart's from there too. It can't be a coincident."

"It's not," Heart said quietly. "It looks like Riku's not the only one who had Chaser for a family member."

*0*0*

Dun dun dun…

So about not updating, I had school and then moving to a new place and now I'm working getting ready to go to college.

So you want more, push the button.


	27. Return to Earth

I'm trying to update honest it's just that life's really funky right now.

Sora: So you _do_ have a life outside this story. (gets hit with Oathkeeper)

Thanks Roxas.

Roxas: Anytime.

Axel and Crixen: Look at skies they have stars in their eyes on this lovely belle notte. Side by side with your loved one- (stop when they see Roxas summon Oblivion) We're late, we're late for a very important date. (run off)

Roxas: No, you're right on time. (runs after them)

Ugh what are we going to with those two?

Disclaimer goes here. Don't own Belle Notte or I'm Late.

**The Chasers**

**Chapter 26**

*0*0*

Kairi's POV

"So Holly's your mom?" I asked Heart. We were once again sitting in the Highwind, Heart was holding the compass as it pointed to Earth.

"Yeah so I guess that means Darrin's my uncle," she said quietly. She seemed unusually fidgety and kept pursing and relaxing her lips as if she wanted to say something but was too nervous. I reached over and gently took her hand.

"Is there something on your mind?" Heart nodded.

"Let's find some place a little more private."

*0*0*

We decided that the engine room was as close to private as we were going to get on the ship. Heart and I sat on the floor as she told me about her growing relationship with Roxas.

"I mean I really like him," she said, "and that kiss." She gave a warm smile and I could tell that she had really fallen for him. "The thing is we want to tell the rest of you but after the stunt Axel and Crixen pulled, I guess we're just going to have to let things cool down for awhile." So that's what was bugging her.

"You know Sora and I never really told our friends that we were a couple," I admitted. "It just showed and now the same thing has happened with Riku and Crixen. We didn't need to be told outright, we saw the subtle things. A look, the way their hands 'accidentally' brushed against each other." I smiled at Heart. "Don't worry about telling us and from the looks of it a certain pair of pyros have already figured it out."

"Yeah well they're still not off the hook and a certain pair of blondes is going to have to teach them one more lesson," Heart said with a mischievous grin as she headed back to her seat.

_Oh no,_ I thought. _What's she up to now?_

*0*0*

Unfortunately I never did find out what Heart was planning as revenge against the two pyros. It turned out there was one other thing bothering her. You see where she lived investigations into missing person's cases usually only lasted the first forty eight hours after the person vanishes before the case goes cold. Heart had been away from Earth for almost two months now. It was possible everyone believed she was dead. The ship touched down close to where she had been picked up. We did it that way so that Heart would be able to lead us to her house and we wouldn't attract as much attention. As we followed her, Heart started acting really odd and kept checking to make sure nobody saw us. Well I take that back considering what I said before about her believing that she was pronounced dead in her world, suddenly showing up with a bunch of strangers would raise questions that would be very difficult for her to answer. We managed to make it to her house without incident and Heart hesitated at her door.

"What's wrong?" Roxas asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I really haven't been thinking of much else except going home one last time," Heart explained. "But now that I'm back I'm suddenly afraid." After a small moment she rang the doorbell.

*0*0*

Heart's POV

I waited for the door to open and I prayed that my parents hadn't moved away while I was gone. The door opened and I suddenly found myself pulled into a crushing hug.

"Mom," I gasped out. "It's a little hard to breath."

"I'm so sorry Heart," my mom explained as she let go. "It's just that when Dad and I came home and you were gone…" Once again I was pulled into another hug and my guilt over leaving grew even though I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter.

"Mom," I managed to wheeze out. "Can I at least get inside before you suffocate me?" Once again my mom let go and I was able to herd my new friends into the house. Needless to say my parents were a bit shocked and I suddenly remembered that I was trying to keep the existence of the Kingdom Hearts franchise a secret. It didn't help that all but three of the group where characters in said franchise. _Well this just got awkward,_ I thought and decided that maybe now would be a good time to come clean. "Can you guys wait here for a second?" I asked and quickly raced to my room. I grabbed all the games I owned plus the strategy guides for KH and KHII and the Kingdom Hearts manga I owned. I brought them downstairs and started to explain things as best I could. First I explained about the games and added that I had no idea how the designers found out about the actual events. Then I explained to my parents what had happened after I went "missing". "So you see we need Darrin's journal to find out more about what happened so we keep from repeating the past and somehow fix everything," I concluded in one big breath. I fell back into the couch and just sat there panting. Everyone just stared at me and for once I got the feeling that I was the only person in the room who knew everything. Let me tell you after knowing pretty much nothing at all it felt pretty good to have all the answers. "Please tell me you have the journal," I added once I felt I could talk again.

"Of course," my mom said with a sad smile. "He left it with me when…" I waited for her to finish but she just waved it off. "It's nothing I'll go get it." She went off to wherever she had it, my guess was her closet. "You don't seem that freaked by this dad," I said.

"Well this isn't the first time this has happened," he said with a laugh. I wanted to ask what he meant by that but my mom showed up with the journal. Before we left I headed back to my room and went to my jewelry box. One of the necklaces I owned was a gold heart shaped locket with two extra picture frames. I put it in my pocket and ran back downstairs. I finally got to say a proper good bye to my parents.

"I always knew you were special," my mom said.

*0*0*

Well that's it for this chapter. Sorry if it seems kind of rushed but I so badly want to get this bit done and over with. It's been sitting in my computer way too long. I am working on the next chapter right away and hopefully I will have it up soon.


End file.
